Last week, I had the privilege of meeting with a woman struggling with life in chronic illness. It meant a lot to me that I could be someone who understood her doubts and dreams, faith and frustration, and hard questions without easy answers.
She knew Jesus could answer all her questions as only He is the Answer and the Amen to every question, longing, dream, and hope (see 2 Corinthians 1:20). She knew God as faithful to all His promises (see Hebrews 10:23).
She knew what she wanted – thriving in life. And she knew she didn’t have – a life free of suffering.
She knew truth in her mind but not in her heart.
Just like I used to know, for far too many years.
With this in mind, her question of “why don’t I deserve a normal life?” confirmed my hypothesis as to the root of her struggles. Physical symptoms and limitations in abilities and activities, the seemingly endless waiting for that next scan, treatment, or diagnosis, and other such challenges with her health weren’t the source of the hardest struggles in her life.
Her real struggle was her perception of God.
From personal experience, I see my misperception of God has been the root of many of my struggles in life. I’ve wasted many a year of life trusting God with this part or that part of my life.
But not with all of my life.
Even though I sang, said, and saw God at work in my life and others’ lives too. I held back portions in life that were “just for me, myself, and I.” And in the doing, I cherished fear instead of holding fast to God’s unfailing, unchanging character. My faith was weak, spindly, and dependent on my abilities, not God’s attributes.
On that note, I wasn’t surprised when my friend was silent after I asked her this question: “where in Scripture does it say that any of us deserve a normal life?”. Nor was I not surprised when her silence continued as I began talking about what any of us really deserve in life.
We deserve death, hell, and the grave, forever separated from God because of our sin.
We are owed nothing but judgment. Yet we are given everything via Christ (see John 3:16).
All have sinned, even the seemingly “best of us.” (see Romans 3:23).
And all of us deserve nothing but death (see Romans 6:23).
Yet, God gave Jesus for us (see Romans 3:25).
Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection made a way back to God again for all who ask for forgiveness and faith to believe (see Romans 9:10). That is, in our receiving of God’s gift in Christ, Christ’s righteousness given in exchange for our sin (see 2 Corinthians 5:21).
And in that righteousness, as Christ followers, we are given eternal life via Christ (see John 3:16). Likewise, eternal life with Christ starts the day of our salvation here on earth (see John chapter 15).
It’s our life in heaven that’s promised to be free of death, pain, grief, and tears (see Revelation 21:3). We are not promised life without loss this side of heaven. With all that in mind, why are we surprised when our lives contain circumstances and situations full of pain, grief, and loss?
Today has enough trouble of its own according to Job 14:1, Matthew 16:4, and other Bible verses. Thus, if our focus is on the trouble of today or fearing what could come tomorrow, we lack the necessary foundational strength of this truth: there’s always hope because there’s always Jesus.
Scripture tells us clearly and repeatedly that the life to come in heaven with Jesus is beyond compare. As importantly, nothing can change that truth. Those truths are both surprising and satisfying in their ability to supersede the gut-wrenching hard of today.
Especially if the life that’s now here is beyond our strength and enduring.
As Christ followers, we are not promised days, much less decades, here free from pain, grief, or loss. We are promised Jesus will not leave or turn away from us (see Hebrews 13:5-6). His character doesn’t change no matter what change we’ve experienced in this life (see Hebrews 13:8). Only His strength and His love is reliable and ready when ours is gone (see 1 John 4:15-19).
And the strength we can know in and receive from our hope in Jesus can be what holds us together, body and soul, here in days full of pain and empty of relief.
For when we, as Christ-followers mired here in today’s troubles and tomorrow’s fears, choose to hold onto hope in Christ, we can hold out hope to those without Christ.
The distinctive beauty of a hopeful Christ-following life in challenging circumstances is apparent in the strength received by the sufferer from Christ. For the Presence of Jesus in the sufferer’s life and the comfort received for the sufferer’s life from the Peace found in Jesus tells a story far bigger than any days without pain, loss, or grief (see Romans 15:4 and Philippians 4:6-9). For when we are dependent on Jesus in all ways, we live His story, not ours.
And it’s God’s story that stretches far past our strength and stories into His provision for today and hope for tomorrow that will never fade or fail. 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV says it best: So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Thus, when we choose to see the beauty He holds for us here in the pain, grief, and loss, we can know and we can have the unexplainable unmistakable undeniable hope that Christ-followers always have in Jesus, our hope of glory (Colossians 1:20 NIV). And that juxtaposition of hope with pain can not only change our lives, it will live far past our stories into forever.
For what we really need is Jesus and the hope He brings us for today and the not-yet.
I think those of us with unrelenting pain and loss from situations that (probably) won’t be fixed before heaven are graced with the gift of knowing our need for Jesus as heavier in our hearts. And no medicine, specialist, or treatment can bear the weight of our grief.
But Jesus can (see Luke 1:37).
And Jesus will (see Matthew 11:28-30).
And along with those gifts of grief and grace comes the responsibility to remain reliant on the hope in our Jesus, day after day after day…
As people who are patients and/or grieve loss(es), we don’t need another scan or procedure, solution or platitude. We desperately need our Savior, Jesus Christ. Only His peace, provision, and Presence are strong enough to defeat the lies of insufficiency for our days, ineptitude in our tasks, and inadequacy with our comparisons (see Psalm 23:1). Only He can cut through that web of lies and let us soar in the path of His commands (see Psalm 119:35).
Better still, our Savior isn’t just strong enough for today. He’s already conquered anything that tries to set itself up against us, including our discontent. 1 Timothy 6:6 ESV tells us godliness with contentment is great gain while our bodies and our minds try to tell us otherwise.
We must listen to and linger in truth if we truly long for hope. That is, a hope that doesn’t disappoint or deny, fade or fail, lessen or leave, even if everything else seems lost (see Romans 5:5).
Hope isn’t a fix for life.
Hope is life itself.
For our hope is our Jesus.
And our Jesus is indeed our hope of glory (Colossians 1:20 ESV).
Our Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6 AKJV). And absolutely nothing can separate us from His love for us, even death and the grave (see Romans 8:38-39).
If this post encouraged you in the soil of your soul, you can read more on this idea (and others) in Nevertheless: finding hope in suffering. This book is now available on Amazon, Christian Book Distributors, WalMart, and other online book distributors. And if you’d like a signed copy, please email me at drbethmadison@outlook.com.
written by and copyrighted to Beth Madison, Ph.D., 2026.
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