No one chooses suffering. No one signs up for disappointment, injustice, or being misunderstood. Yet Scripture shows us again and again that some of God’s greatest work happens not in the moments we feel strong, but in the moments we feel struck down.
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were doing good — freeing a young woman tormented by an evil spirit. But instead of gratitude or celebration, they were beaten, humiliated, and thrown into the inner part of a prison. Their bodies were chained, their names slandered, and their future unclear.
Yet at midnight, something unexpected happened. They worshiped.
In the darkest cell of their lives, they turned their attention away from their wounds and toward the One who heals. Not because they weren’t suffering — but because they trusted God in their suffering.
The Bible says the other prisoners were listening.
And they still are.
People watch how we hurt, how we trust, how we survive. Your suffering is never an isolated story — it’s a sermon. And every time you choose worship over despair, heaven moves.
Suddenly, God shook the foundations of the prison. Doors opened. Chains fell off. But the miracle wasn’t simply escape — it was transformation. Paul and Silas didn’t run; they stayed. Why? Because God wasn’t just trying to free them — He was trying to free the jailer and his entire household. Suffering burned away self-preservation and made room for compassion, courage, and divine purpose.
That’s what suffering often does.
It refines us.
It prepares us.
It strips away what never mattered and reveals what always did.
The darkest places in your life can become God’s classroom.
The moments you wish you could erase may be the very ones God uses most powerfully.
The battle that feels like confinement may actually be the place of refinement.
And when the time is right — not early, not late — God brings the suddenly.
Suddenly the doors open.
Suddenly the chains fall.
Suddenly what felt permanent begins to shift.
Because suffering is never the end of the story for those who belong to Jesus.
Resurrection always has the final word.
🙌 Call to Action
This week, bring your suffering — all of it — before God.
Not with explanations, but with worship.
Not with fear, but with trust.
Ask Him to turn your prison into preparation and your pain into purpose.
And believe this:
God will not waste your suffering.
He will use it to strengthen you, shape you, and lead others to Him through your story.
By Pastor Lorenzo DellaForesta