Suffering Does Have Benefits

Suffering and loss are everywhere. Whether visible or hidden, not one household is without struggles. Whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, every pain or loss devastates lives.

What good is suffering? Sometimes when we’re in the depths of it, we can’t always see there are benefits to it. But in hindsight, we can’t deny it has made us better people if we let it. We have a choice. Do we let it make us bitter or better?

Below are some quotes and Bible verses that help us to focus on the positive aspects of suffering:

Suffering Can Transform Us to Be Better People

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” Elizabeth Kubler Ros

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” Helen Keller

“The world breaks everyone, and those who are broken are strongest in the broken places.” Ernest Hemingway

“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.” Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

“Sometimes in tragedy we find our life’s purpose – the eye sheds a tear to find its focus.” Robert Brault

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” African Proverb

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3

Suffering Can Create More Appreciation for What We Otherwise Take for Granted

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” Anne Bradstreet

“Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them?” Rose F. Kennedy

“Gratitude is an art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture.” Kak Sri

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” Cynthia Ozick

“We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4

We Do Not Suffer Alone

“Pain, sorrow, and suffering are but the kiss of Jesus.” — Mother Teresa, 1983

“You may never know that JESUS is all you need, until JESUS is all you have.” Corrie Ten Boom

“Sometimes I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of the year to a great bundle of [sticks], far too large for us to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole at once; He mercifully unties the bundle, and gives us first one stick, which we are to carry today, and then another which we are to carry tomorrow, and so on. This we might easily manage, if we would only take the burden appointed for us each day; but we choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday’s stick over again today, and adding tomorow’s burden to our load, before we are required to bear it.” John Newton

“It is the Lord Who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (Deuteronomy 31:8)

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27)

“The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” (Psalm 9:9-10)

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” (Psalm 46:1-3)

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

“God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5b

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Someday Suffering Will Cease

“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne.” Revelation 3:21

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:17-18