Colin Wong Supporter Founder, eBible.com

Ten years ago, my eldest daughter was born with a genetic defect that severely impacted her brain. To this day, her mind is perhaps at the maturity of a two year old. Kaitlyn was born with an extremely rare medical condition that joined her left and right brain at the wrong place. 

When my wife and I first learned about this, it completely broke our hearts. Why did this happened to us? We were not saints, but we never cheated, stolen or killed anyone. We were "good" people. But far more than that, why would God punish our daughter? She had absolutely nothing to do with our sins. She was punished by virtue of association - she was our daughter. Nothing more.

We sank into despair and I renounced God. There is no God. If there was such a God that allowed evil and suffering, I wanted no part of Him. That was ten years ago.

To cut the story short, since then, God has slowly worked His way into our lives. Bit by bit, our hearts were won over, and we witnessed an amazing restoration of love, peace, joy, acceptance, renewal and completion. God is good.

This topic is likely better served outside of a short eBible answer but I shall attempt to provide what little insight I have in my personal journey of restoration.

First, recognize that we truly live in a fallen world. This means bad things can happen to good people, and good things can happen to bad people. When humankind broke away from God and went our separate way, we chose a path without God. And where God isn't, suffering and evil prevails.

Second, recognize that all pain and suffering is not in vain. It is not pointless. Just because we cannot understand why bad things are allowed to happen does not mean it is without reason.

The story of Joseph in Genesis greatly underscore this. Joseph was hated by his brothers. They imprisoned him in a pit, and sold him to slavery. After years of bondage and misery, Joseph was molded by God to become the "Prime Minister" of Egypt. In the end, he saved his family and his people from starvation and fulfilled God's promise to Abraham for the creation of the Israel nation. It is when we fail to see the end-result that we believe it to be pointless.

My wife and I didn't know God before Kaitlyn. But when we committed our lives to Him, our entire family of five got saved. Had God not allowed Kaitlyn to "happen", our entire family would be lost, and eBible would not have been created (I am one of its founders). But now I count myself blessed that my three kids, my wife and I will all be together with God forever. Kaitlyn has saved our family, as Joseph had saved his.

In 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul speaks of a "thorn" in his flesh. Three times he begged God to remove it. Three times the Lord denied him. God's answer:

2 Corinthians 12:9
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

I did not understand it then. I thought Kaitlyn's suffering was pointless. But today I understand that God's grace was with us the whole time. Grace means "unmerited favor". God did me a favor by allowing Kaitlyn's situation to happen. In other words, some day, when I'm in heaven, and I talk to God, I will look back and completely see that Kaitlyn was the best thing to happen to our family, that the result is so glorious, so restorative, so rewarding that it is worth far more than everything we can possibly endure today. Our God is so good.

Is suffering one of many tools that God uses for His glory? Yes. It would be hypocritical if God didn't Himself partake in it. He did. Jesus Christ, the manifestation of God Himself in human form, came down on earth, and suffered humiliation, torture, anguish, pain, suffering, and DIED for us. He went to hell and was risen on the 3rd day, for all of us. God would never do to us what He would not do to Himself. 

There is justice. There is victory. But only if we choose to let God carry us through.

November 27 2013 • 4 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report