Quote: “Let the hell you go through, produce heaven in you.” -Tee Archer
Some seasons of life are difficult. Others feel downright hellish.
There are experiences that hurt so deeply they change us. Loss. Betrayal. Rejection. Disappointment. Seasons when life does not simply inconvenience us; it wounds us.
We cannot always choose what happens to us. But with God’s help, we can have a say in what those experiences are allowed to produce in us.
Because suffering does not automatically make us better.
Pain can make us compassionate, but it can also make us cruel. Betrayal can make us discerning, or it can make us suspicious of everyone. Rejection can deepen our understanding of others, or convince us never to let anyone close again. Hardship can strengthen our faith, or leave us angry with God.
The fire does not decide what we become.
That is why healing matters.
God can take places in us that have been wounded and do something pain could never accomplish on its own. He can teach us without allowing the lesson to harden us. He can give us wisdom without turning us cynical. He can develop compassion without requiring us to pretend what happened was acceptable.
And sometimes, what grows in us afterward is beautiful.
We become slower to judge because we know what it is to struggle. We become gentler with people’s hidden battles. We discover strength we did not know we possessed. We recognize God’s presence in places where we once thought He had abandoned us.
None of that makes the hell good.
It means the hell did not get the final word.
Joseph told the brothers who had betrayed him, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” What they did was still wrong. What Joseph suffered was still real. But God was able to produce something their actions never intended.
Perhaps that is one of the greatest victories available to us after suffering: refusing to let what hurt us decide who we become.
So heal. Grieve. Get help when you need it. Give God access to the places you would rather close off. Let Him deal with the anger, fear, distrust, grief, and questions honestly.
And when you eventually walk out of that season, do not simply ask, “How did I survive that?”
Ask something deeper:
“God, what have You produced in me that hell could not destroy?”
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good…” -Genesis 50:20 (NIV)
