A question about suffering

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sparrowhawk28

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For the last two months my physical health has been suffering. It’s caused me to feel alone, misunderstood and depressed. I’m losing a bit of hope.
I try to glorify God each day and try to maintain a level of optimism, but I find these things to be difficult when my physical and mental health are not what they should be. I pray for strength and deliverance, but I still feel so alone and so weak most of the time.
I say a Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and part of it says - “I will lift my sufferings and hurts up to You”.

How can I go about doing that? How best can I glorify God, even when things are hard?

God bless.
 
I can’t offer much advice, other than a book on suffering written by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, although I can’t remember the name off-hand. Maybe someone else has a better memory than me.

God knows your suffering and He knows what you can handle. (My aunt always says “I know that God won’t give me more than I can handle; I just wish He’d let me know how much that is.” 🙂 It’s easy for me to say, but hang in there.

You are glorifying God by bearing your sufferings. I’ve heard it said – don’t ask me where, though – that God hears our prayers most clearly when we are suffering. Mother Teresa didn’t even have the consolation of God’s presence for most of her later life.

Remember that everyone who reads your post is going to keep you in prayer. You are being lifted up by many and you do have a God who is always there, even when He seems most remote.

I hope there’s something in the rambling that helps. God bless you and heal you as He knows best for you.

Dan
 
Sparrowhawk,

First let me say that I am sorry that you are suffering. It is truly something that is difficult to handle.
While I am currently in good health, my dear wife is not and so we suffer together.

You ask, how can you lift your sufferings up to God?

For me it has been to seek out what God wants me to learn by this suffering. To grow in Love - the Love that I show my dear wife is a mere reflection of the Love that God has shown us. The hurt that I feel, the depression, the struggles, and all the other things that go along with this have meaning - and that meaning is found in how it helps us to learn to Love better and more fully.

Are there people around you? People who you care about and who care about you? Are there professional people charged with helping you?
Who do you interact with? How can you show God’s Love to them - and how can you allow them to show God’s Love to you?
If you truly ARE alone, and have little interaction with others, then it is more difficult. In that case, perhaps you can ask God to show you some cause, or group or something that you can pray for and suffer for. Then as you deal with your suffering, you have a goal. Someone else will benefit from your suffering. Someone or some group who you can learn more about and take an interest in.
St Therese of Liseaux devoted herself to missionaries in her prayers and her suffering…

I hope that some of this might help.

Peace
James
 
Prayers coming your way for your suffering. You are on the right track by offering up your suffering. You are in good company, many saints have suffered. Recently I was doing some study on redemptive suffering and found this website, maybe it will help you too.

religious-vocation.com/redemptive_suffering.html

A lot of what you wrote sounds like the suffering of Jesus, so concider yourself in good company.
 
danonwaveland said:
I can’t offer much advice, other than a book on suffering written by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, although I can’t remember the name off-hand. Maybe someone else has a better memory than me.

God knows your suffering and He knows what you can handle. (My aunt always says “I know that God won’t give me more than I can handle; I just wish He’d let me know how much that is.” 🙂 It’s easy for me to say, but hang in there.

You are glorifying God by bearing your sufferings. I’ve heard it said – don’t ask me where, though – that God hears our prayers most clearly when we are suffering. Mother Teresa didn’t even have the consolation of God’s presence for most of her later life.

Remember that everyone who reads your post is going to keep you in prayer. You are being lifted up by many and you do have a God who is always there, even when He seems most remote.

I hope there’s something in the rambling that helps. God bless you and heal you as He knows best for you.

Dan
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That book sounds most interesting. I will see if I can find it somewhere.

I know I should bear any suffering or difficulty with peace and a pure heart, yet it’s becoming more difficult for me to do. Each day I am in physical pain, and each day it seems I am falling into the trap of misery. I don’t want to fall victim to despair or self-pity. Compared to the suffering of many other people, what I am dealing with is minute. Yet it still seems to be controlling much of my life.

In this time, I’ve grown in my relationship with God - though I don’t think that’s related to what I’m dealing with, rather, it’s come from personal desire. Deep down, I know God is with me, but sometimes He does seem very far away.

Thank you for your kind words and for your prayers. I will keep you in my own intentions.
 
JRKH said:
Sparrowhawk,

First let me say that I am sorry that you are suffering. It is truly something that is difficult to handle.
While I am currently in good health, my dear wife is not and so we suffer together.

You ask, how can you lift your sufferings up to God?

For me it has been to seek out what God wants me to learn by this suffering. To grow in Love - the Love that I show my dear wife is a mere reflection of the Love that God has shown us. The hurt that I feel, the depression, the struggles, and all the other things that go along with this have meaning - and that meaning is found in how it helps us to learn to Love better and more fully.

Are there people around you? People who you care about and who care about you? Are there professional people charged with helping you?
Who do you interact with? How can you show God’s Love to them - and how can you allow them to show God’s Love to you?
If you truly ARE alone, and have little interaction with others, then it is more difficult. In that case, perhaps you can ask God to show you some cause, or group or something that you can pray for and suffer for. Then as you deal with your suffering, you have a goal. Someone else will benefit from your suffering. Someone or some group who you can learn more about and take an interest in.
St Therese of Liseaux devoted herself to missionaries in her prayers and her suffering…

I hope that some of this might help.

Peace
James
Click to expand...
That’s a very interesting concept.
I was born with a paralytic condition affecting my face, and throughout my life so far it’s made a few things difficult. I’ve never felt like God caused my paralysis because He wanted me to suffer - in fact, I’ve always seen it as a blessing. This condition isn’t related to the physical difficulty I’m going through now, but I’ve been trying desperately to adopt the attitude I’ve maintained towards my paralysis when dealing with this current struggle. I firmly believe there is meaning in suffering, and I’d like to be able to view it as positive…but it’s just so hard.

There are people around me. My immediate family knows of the troubles I’ve had, but it’s very difficult to communicate with them about my situation. Even though I know they’re concerned for me, they can’t understand the pain I’m going through or why it’s gone on for so long. Our conversations surrounding it always seem to become heated.
Outside of my family, no one (save a few doctors) knows of what has been happening. I’ve been acting like there’s no problem with my friends and the rest of my family, and that has (for the most part) been a nice way of relieving myself.

The physical difficulty I currently have is making many things hard. Since the problem began, I’ve been very inactive. I can’t move properly without pain - I can’t even kneel at Mass without feeling it. I’ve become more isolated, tired and withdrawn than normal because doing things has become strenuous. I would like to go to Mass more, to be out in nature more - but I feel like these desires are being compromised not only by my physical limitations but also by my mentality.

James, thank you for your kind words and for the reference to St. Therese - I’ve always liked her. I will keep you and your wife in my intentions.
 
beth40n2 said:
Prayers coming your way for your suffering. You are on the right track by offering up your suffering. You are in good company, many saints have suffered. Recently I was doing some study on redemptive suffering and found this website, maybe it will help you too.

religious-vocation.com/redemptive_suffering.html

A lot of what you wrote sounds like the suffering of Jesus, so concider yourself in good company.
Click to expand...
Beth, thank you for your kind words, for your prayers and for the link. It gave me some inspiration. I will remember you in my own intentions.

I try to remember that even though I may feel like things are too difficult, nothing can be as difficult as what Jesus endured. Christ understands all suffering, and when I manage to remember that, I find myself filled with comfort and peace.
 
Sparrowhawk,

I will be praying for you. When I read your post, I immediately thought of the man born blind.

“As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:3.

I always find comfort in this passage. This MAN lived for years, born blind from birth, in a society in which being blind was seen as a curse from God, punishment for either his parents sins or his. He was a beggar because others saw him as worthless. He was taught no skills, and society saw no place fit for him other then to beg for the rest of his life. He lived for years that way, until one day Jesus came along and healed him. No one told him he would someday be healed, for all he knew he would be suffering for the rest of his life. But now, centuries later, people like me find comfort in HIS story, because HIS suffering HAD A PURPOSE. I hope this helps, God bless you:)
 
ErricFiggy said:
Sparrowhawk,

I will be praying for you. When I read your post, I immediately thought of the man born blind.

“As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:3.

I always find comfort in this passage. This MAN lived for years, born blind from birth, in a society in which being blind was seen as a curse from God, punishment for either his parents sins or his. He was a beggar because others saw him as worthless. He was taught no skills, and society saw no place fit for him other then to beg for the rest of his life. He lived for years that way, until one day Jesus came along and healed him. No one told him he would someday be healed, for all he knew he would be suffering for the rest of his life. But now, centuries later, people like me find comfort in HIS story, because HIS suffering HAD A PURPOSE. I hope this helps, God bless you:)
Click to expand...
Erric, your reply was very helpful. Thank you for including the passage. I’d completely forgotten about that story, and reading it now brings me some hope and comfort - not only of healing, but also that I may be able to be like this man and display the works of God.
Thank you for your prayers. I will keep you in my own intentions.
 
sparrowhawk28 said:
That’s a very interesting concept.
I was born with a paralytic condition affecting my face, and throughout my life so far it’s made a few things difficult. I’ve never felt like God caused my paralysis because He wanted me to suffer - in fact, I’ve always seen it as a blessing. This condition isn’t related to the physical difficulty I’m going through now, but I’ve been trying desperately to adopt the attitude I’ve maintained towards my paralysis when dealing with this current struggle. I firmly believe there is meaning in suffering, and I’d like to be able to view it as positive…but it’s just so hard.

There are people around me. My immediate family knows of the troubles I’ve had, but it’s very difficult to communicate with them about my situation. Even though I know they’re concerned for me, they can’t understand the pain I’m going through or why it’s gone on for so long. Our conversations surrounding it always seem to become heated.
Outside of my family, no one (save a few doctors) knows of what has been happening. I’ve been acting like there’s no problem with my friends and the rest of my family, and that has (for the most part) been a nice way of relieving myself.

The physical difficulty I currently have is making many things hard. Since the problem began, I’ve been very inactive. I can’t move properly without pain - I can’t even kneel at Mass without feeling it. I’ve become more isolated, tired and withdrawn than normal because doing things has become strenuous. I would like to go to Mass more, to be out in nature more - but I feel like these desires are being compromised not only by my physical limitations but also by my mentality.

James, thank you for your kind words and for the reference to St. Therese - I’ve always liked her. I will keep you and your wife in my intentions.
Click to expand...
I’m glad that my post was of some help and comfort to you. Yes - St Therese is a wonderful inspiration. Her “Little way of Love” is so powerful in it’s simplicity.

It’s obvious from what you write above that your various relationships are very complicated now. Therefore, I would suggest talking with someone who can help to guide you on a more intimate level than we can here. Perhaps your pastor can help or can refer you to someone.

Peace
James
 
JRKH said:
I’m glad that my post was of some help and comfort to you. Yes - St Therese is a wonderful inspiration. Her “Little way of Love” is so powerful in it’s simplicity.

It’s obvious from what you write above that your various relationships are very complicated now. Therefore, I would suggest talking with someone who can help to guide you on a more intimate level than we can here. Perhaps your pastor can help or can refer you to someone.

Peace
James
Click to expand...
Thanks James. I’ll do some more research on St. Therese.

Yes, relationships are troubled. This last week I’ve been using crutches on the advice of my doctor, and that just seemed to anger my parents more. I know they care for me and they want to see me get well, but they just can’t seem to accept or understand that things are difficult for me. It’s gotten to the point where I just don’t talk about the pain anymore because I know it will result in anger or hurt.
There was a recent change within my church - the priest (who I knew well and who was very kind and friendly towards me) has left. Another priest serves at my church, but I don’t know him exceptionally well. Even so, he might be good to talk to.

Yesterday I went to Mass and prayed in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I know that God has a plan for me and that this is just another of life’s circumstances. I’m trying to trust Him wholeheartedly and surrender myself to His will, as I believe things will work out for the best in the end. Even so, and even while I know that Jesus is watching over me - it is a difficult thing.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful words of advice and support. I feel very empowered and guided. May God bless you all.
 
So sorry to hear about your suffering. We never quite know what others are going through. However, in the tradition of the Church many Saints have suffered. It can be looked at as a blessing as we can join in our sufferings to Christ’s Passion.

God bless you.

Neden
 
danonwaveland said:
You continue to be in the prayers of many.

God bless,
Dan
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Neden said:
So sorry to hear about your suffering. We never quite know what others are going through. However, in the tradition of the Church many Saints have suffered. It can be looked at as a blessing as we can join in our sufferings to Christ’s Passion.

God bless you.

Neden
Click to expand...
Thank you both for your kind words and reassurance.

Lately I’ve been feeling more drawn to worship and connecting with God. There was a period when I was reading Scripture every day, but as things get busier I’ve neglected the practice. I’m making plans to try and read Scripture more, and try and make time to attend Mass or pray in the church. These things seem to calm me and make things more manageable, at least for a short time.

Yesterday I prayed the Rosary at home in memory of two deceased family members. I really enjoyed praying it, so today I’m going to try and do so again at my university’s church and dedicate my intentions towards healing. I am seeing another doctor in the next few weeks; hopefully he can give me some help in beating the problem.

God bless.
 
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