And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose… (Romans 8:28)
A pregnant woman was brought to me handcuffed in the back of a pickup truck in Africa. Her village concluded she was dangerous because of demon possession. They sent her to our prayer clinic at the mission station for deliverance. Her eyes rolled back while she babbled and shrieked.
After thirty minutes, I wasn’t sure we were dealing with a demon. It could have been a mental break, or a medical problem. After much screaming and thrashing about, she showed signs of risk to her physical health. We put her back in the truck to race her to the hospital. They treated for toxemia and she responded well.
To this day, I’m not sure what the correct diagnosis should have been. It seemed an over simplification to name any one culprit. Maybe she had practiced black magic until a demon took over. Maybe she only needed the right antipsychotic meds. Maybe it was late pregnancy preeclampsia. Or perhaps it was a combination of factors.
We often cannot pinpoint the source of our suffering. Is it spiritual, mental, or physical? It my fault or caused by another’s sin against me? Pain ripples across our pond only to intersect with other ripples until we can no longer discern which stone of human sin caused them.
We may not know the source, or the final outcome, but one thing is certain. Jesus is intimate with every hardship and he is at work to bring something wonderful out of them. There is a grand purpose behind each struggle, and Jesus is all over it like a duck on a June bug.
My part is to wait patiently, trust deeply, and love well. His part is to pull my ugly inside out to reveal its beauty. He will do his part, will I do mine?
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for leveraging my pain into good.