Finding God’s Grace in Our Suffering by Katie FarisSample

I don’t know what your hard is. Maybe you’re single, and you want to be married. Maybe you just found out that your mom has cancer. Maybe your spouse has been cheating on you. Whatever it is, your hard is your suffering.

Our family’s primary suffering is a life-threatening condition that impacts three of our children. As grateful as I am for what it has taught me, I wouldn’t have chosen my hard. Maybe that’s why I find Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before his crucifixion, to be so encouraging. This is what he prayed: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me” (Luke 22:42a).

Jesus. The one who became like us but never sinned. Even he asked God to remove a cup of suffering from him. It must not be wrong to ask God to change our circumstances, to want him to replace our cup. But it doesn’t stop there, and that’s not how Jesus finished his prayer.

“Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42b).

It’s only because Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath on behalf of sinners such as me that we can experience his saving grace. It’s only by God’s grace that we too can say, “Not my will, but yours, be done.” In our marriage (or singleness). In our infertility. In our parenting. In our joy. And in our suffering. Your will be done in all of it.

Along the way, I’ve realized that the goal isn’t to find the bright side or cast an optimistic spin on grim reality. Rather, faith involves taking God at his word and asking the Holy Spirit to help me believe and apply biblical truths about God’s grace to challenging circumstances.

Even when everything does seem to go wrong, it’s still possible to see God’s grace in Christ.

And it’s only by God’s grace that “glass half-empty” people like me can learn to see his grace in the form of a hand to hold in the emergency room or a friend who texts at just the right moment or an extra bag of groceries on the front step.

Thank God, God is gracious. Can we see it?

Reflection Questions:

1. In your hard, can you see God’s grace? What makes it challenging to see?
2. Reflect on Luke 22:42, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” How does Jesus’ prayer encourage or challenge you?