Hey, if you're reading this…
I don't think it's a coincidence. I believe that every time one of my posts finds its way to you, God is trying to say something to you specifically. How do I know that? Because everything I write, record, and share is created with one purpose: to be a blessing in your life. I've prayed over it. I've invested my time and energy into it. Every single piece of content I put out is meant to carry a message from God — for you.
Why do I do it? Because I'm convinced that God's purpose for my life is to serve others through the message of Christ. That's not just something I say — it's the reason I show up.
Today I want to talk about something most people avoid: pain.
We don't associate pain with anything good. We don't like feeling it, we don't like living through it — it makes us uncomfortable, resistant, sometimes even ashamed. It's as if suffering were some kind of design flaw in life, something that shouldn't be there. Something to fix, escape, or numb as fast as possible.
But the truth is — living and suffering are inseparable. And more importantly: God is not absent in your pain. He is right there in the middle of it, working.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him."
— Romans 8:28
Every time we suffer, we go through experiences that transform us. God wants us to learn from them — but He also wants us to know that we are loved, that He sees us, and that He is shaping us through the very pain we wish would go away.
"The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son."
— Hebrews 12:6
Two ways God works through pain:
There are moments when God allows us to walk through suffering on our own — not because He's abandoned us, but to observe our hearts and align them with His. Job is the most powerful example of this. God allowed Job to lose everything: his family, his health, his prosperity. His friends offered empty explanations. He cried out and heard silence. And yet, in the middle of all of it, Job declared:
"Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him."
— Job 13:15
God eventually restored Job with twice what he had lost — but first, Job had to walk through the desert of pain alone, so that his faith could be refined like gold.
Then there are moments when we walk through the pain with Him — and in those moments, we receive a strength that doesn't make sense by any human standard. A peace that shouldn't be possible given the circumstances. The apostle Paul knew that place intimately:
"I can do all this through him who gives me strength."
— Philippians 4:13
Paul wrote those words from prison. Not from a place of comfort or ease — from chains. And yet, he had joy. That is the supernatural strength God gives us when we invite Him into our pain.
Personally, when I look back at my own life, I can find God in both of those places.
The hidden pain counts too.
There are also pains we carry deep in our subconscious — wounds we don't even know are there. And yet God, who sees everything, can lead us to heal what we've buried for years, sometimes decades.
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
— Psalm 51:10
When I was a teenager, I discovered I'd been carrying a wound since I was nine years old — the day my dad sat me down and told me he and my mom were separating. I thought I had processed it in a day. I moved on. I kept living my life like everything was fine. Until one day, praying with a friend, that pain came to the surface.
God didn't bring it up to condemn me or to make me feel bad about something I hadn't even recognized as a problem. I was functioning. I was smiling. I didn't feel like that old wound was holding me back from anything. And yet — it was there. Like a locked door in a dark room. A door I had never tried to open, simply because I didn't know it existed.
God showed it to me so He could open it. So light could reach the place where it had never reached before. Not to hurt me — but to free me from a weight I had been carrying without knowing it. A weight that was keeping me from the fullness He had prepared for me.
"For the word of God is alive and active... it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
— Hebrews 4:12
That's what God does. He sees what we can't see. He reaches where we cannot reach. And He heals what we didn't even know was broken.
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
— Psalm 34:18
I could fill an entire book with stories from my own journey through pain. And no — my life hasn't been nothing but suffering. But it's worth saying clearly: in this life, we hurt. And God wants us to bring that hurt before Him — so our burden can be lifted, our hearts set free, and our minds and spirits made clean.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
— Matthew 11:28
One last thing:
I'm currently developing a series on the hard questions people ask about God over on my YouTube channel, Faith is Fire — and this week's video connects directly with everything I've shared here. If you found this post through that video, drop a comment and let me know what you thought. And if there's something going on in your life you'd like me to pray over, leave it in the comments too. I mean that.
If this resonated with you, subscribe to this Substack and head over to Faith is Fire on YouTube. Help me build a community that becomes a blessing to many.
I'm Norman — see you next time. 🙏