What If Suffering Is Where Strength Begins

What If Suffering Is Where Strength Begins?

Most of us spend our lives trying to avoid suffering. We pray for comfort, protection, healing, and breakthrough. We ask God to remove the struggle, fix the problem, and get us back to normal as quickly as possible. There's nothing wrong with those prayers. I've prayed them myself. But what if suffering isn't always the thing standing between us and God? What if suffering is sometimes the place where we experience Him most deeply?

That's a difficult idea to accept because everything in us wants relief. We naturally want life to make sense. We want the diagnosis to come with a solution. We want the prayer to have a quick answer. We want the valley to end. But sometimes God does some of His deepest work in the places we would never willingly choose to go.

On Episode 20 of Kingdom Chaos, I sat down with Sean Kennard, a former SWAT officer, professional MMA fighter, husband, father of three, and leader with Mighty Oaks. Sean isn't sharing a testimony from the other side of the storm. He's sharing from the middle of it. His story is still being written, and that's what makes it so powerful.

A little over a year ago, Sean's life looked very different. He was healthy, active, strong, training, serving, and living a life that most people would consider successful. Then everything changed. Following a series of injuries, infections, surgeries, and aggressive rounds of antibiotics, his health began to decline rapidly. What started as unexplained sickness eventually became something much more serious. His body stopped responding normally to food. He lost significant weight. Everyday activities became exhausting. Doctors searched for answers while symptoms continued to worsen. Even now, there are still more questions than answers.

Listening to Sean talk about his journey was a reminder that suffering doesn't always come with explanations. Sometimes we don't get the clarity we desperately want. Sometimes we're left living in uncertainty, trusting God one day at a time.

One thing that stood out to me was Sean's response to the question most of us eventually ask when life falls apart: "Why me?" While he admitted there are days when he cries out to God and struggles through the weight of what he's facing, he said the Lord has largely protected him from getting stuck in that question. Instead, his prayers have focused on healing, trust, and surrender. He still asks God to heal him every day. He still believes God can perform a miracle. But he has also learned to trust God even if the answer doesn't come on his timeline or even in the way he wants.

That kind of faith isn't easy. In fact, I think it's one of the hardest places a believer can live. Sean shares the tension between believing God can heal and trusting Him if He doesn't. It's holding hope in one hand and surrender in the other. Most of us want certainty. We want guarantees. We want God to show us exactly what He's doing. But faith often means walking forward without seeing the entire path.

One of the most powerful moments in our conversation came when Sean said he believes God is teaching him something he never expected. His entire life has been about fighting. As a SWAT officer, an MMA fighter, and someone who has overcome difficult circumstances, fighting comes naturally to him. But now he feels like God is teaching him something different. Not how to fight, but how to suffer.

Honestly, that's not a lesson most of us want. We admire strength. We admire perseverance. We admire victory stories. But we rarely talk about suffering well. We rarely talk about remaining faithful when prayers seem unanswered. Yet when we look at Jesus, we see a Savior who understood suffering better than anyone. Before the resurrection came the cross. Before the victory came the pain. Before the glory came the sacrifice.

Sean shared that his understanding of carrying his cross has changed dramatically during this season. In the past, he pictured carrying his cross as a strong man pushing through adversity.  He thought being strong and courageous meant physical strength running into battle. Today, he sees it differently. He sees a man who is weak, exhausted, suffering, and uncertain, yet still taking one step forward in faith. That image has stayed with me because I think that's where many of us actually live. Especially as men because we are suppose to be silent, in our strength and courage, carrying the weight of the world. We aren't always strong. We don't always feel courageous. Sometimes we're simply trying to trust God enough to take the next step.

Another lesson that surfaced repeatedly throughout our conversation was the importance of community. Sean talked about how suffering reveals something many of us try to ignore: we were never meant to carry life alone. Our culture celebrates independence and self-sufficiency, but Scripture points us toward community. There are moments in life when your own strength isn't enough. There are seasons when you need people around you who can remind you of God's faithfulness when you can barely see it yourself. There are days when someone else's encouragement becomes the thing that keeps you moving forward. As Sean put it, community isn't optional, especially during suffering.

Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Sean what he hopes his children remember years from now when they look back on this season. His answer wasn't about accomplishments, success, or achievements. He said he hopes they remember a father who continued pointing them to Christ in the middle of suffering. He hopes they see that even in hardship, God remained present. He hopes they learn that faith isn't something we practice only when life is easy. Faith is something we cling to when life becomes difficult.

That answer challenged me. So many of us spend our lives chasing things that won't matter much in the long run. We want success, recognition, comfort, and security. Yet when people remember us, it often comes down to something much simpler. Did our lives point them toward Jesus? Did we remain faithful when things got hard? Did we trust God when circumstances made no sense?

Maybe strength doesn't begin where we think it does. Maybe strength isn't found when the struggle ends. Maybe strength begins the moment we stop trying to control everything ourselves. Maybe it begins when we surrender. Maybe it begins when we admit we don't have all the answers. Maybe strength begins when we finally realize that God's grace is enough for today.

If you're walking through suffering right now, I want you to know something. God is not absent. Your questions don't scare Him. Your doubts don't surprise Him. Your pain hasn't caused Him to look away. You don't have to pretend you're okay. You don't have to manufacture faith you don't feel. You don't have to know how the story ends.

You simply need enough faith for today.

One prayer.
One step.
One moment of trust.

And maybe, just maybe, the season you would never choose is becoming the place where God is building a strength you could never develop any other way.

Because sometimes suffering isn't where faith dies.