I’ve seen a lot written lately about a sense of despair that many people have collectively felt in the past few years. It’s not just that the world keeps getting crazier and crazier, but it also appears that many of us have seen the struggles amp up in our lives. I’ve seen it too, where it seems as though not only am I dealing with personal setbacks, but many people around me are suffering in a variety of ways. There is so much pain on this earth.

Often when people look at a committed Christian, they see someone who ‘has it all together’ and assume that it’s a person who has lived a charmed life and knows very little hardship. Though it may sometimes be the case that someone holds tightly to his or her Christian identity because it has yet to be challenged, a relationship with God thrives like no other once it has been tested through trials and suffering.

Contrary to what the skeptics might say, belief in God is not solely for the weak-minded. Many of His companions have come closer to Him through hard-fought, tear-soaked agonies. They are the ones who have seen God work, who have been on the frontlines of disaster and tasted sorrow and wrestled like Jacob and suffered like Job. But they hold fast because they also know joy and peace and love. They know the source; they’ve seen the One who has gotten them through.

The stories of my own life are not all pleasant, and I can say with certainty that there are people who would be surprised at some of the battles I have faced. The truth is we’d all likely be surprised at the battles everyone faces. No one, no matter how wealthy or famous or smart or godly, escapes them, and rarely do we share the most intimate, gruesome details. But the bottom line is, there are people who have been through hell and back, and still look forward to the hope of heaven. 

Our lives have purpose beyond anything we could ever imagine, yet I’m convinced that one of the most significant dangers to a person’s sense of meaning is ‘Christian culture’, or the counterfeit forms of Christianity that leave people starving for true community. We aren’t made for shallow relationships. We aren’t put on this earth to fill notebooks with doctrine that never gets put into practice. We are designed for so much more, so much abundant joy, and yet we lack it so much of the time.

We can’t allow the pain that has entered our lives to prevent us from living authentically, walking through the fire with each other, and encouraging one another in our hardships. I’m saying this as someone who has recently been through a lot of hurt. I’m saying it mostly to myself because the tendency I have is to want to retreat, no longer bearing anyone else’s burdens because my burdens feel too great. But we aren’t called to throw our hands in the air and give up. We are called to continue to be a light of love in a dying world that so desperately needs it.

The kingdom of God is within all of us who have held fast to His promises. May we always remember the power we have to make a difference.