Suffering and Loss: Discovering Grace in the Midst of Pain

Sunday Awe

Pain is part of the human experience and no one escapes it. It comes in many forms—illness, loss, betrayal, depression, and tragedy. Sometimes we bring it upon ourselves; other times it barges in uninvited. It comes from dying too soon, and living too long. Suffering, in one form or another, is part of the rhythm of life.

There are moments when the darkness feels total—when hope seems out of reach. I remember such a season during the aftermath of the 1987 stock market crash. We had just built a house and bought a business, with two small children at home. When the market collapsed, our income was cut in half, but our expenses were not. I sank into deep depression, making matters even worse. At my lowest point, my parents stepped in to offer help— not enough to bail us out, but enough to give me hope, and that was all I needed. That was grace.

In retrospect, it is easy to see how grace often hides within pain. The illness that changes your priorities. The loss that opens a door to something new. The heartbreak that deepens compassion. A wise sage once said, “Trials do not happen to you, but for you.” But when you’re in the middle of suffering, perspective is hard to find. That’s when remembering stories of grace—your own or others’—can remind you that this too shall pass.

Even in the midst of it, we can also take heart in knowing we are not suffering alone. For the gospel message is that God does not stand apart, but enters into our suffering with us. In Jesus, God experienced loss, betrayal and death. Yet, on the other side of the cross is resurrection! There is hope, grace, and redemption.

Take a moment to be in AWE:
• Aware – Notice moments of grace, even in pain. Be aware of others who are suffering.
• Wonder – Sit with your pain without rushing to fix it. Ask what it might be teaching you.
• Embrace – Trust that grace is at work beneath the surface, transforming what feels unbearable into something life-giving.

Grace does not erase pain; it transforms it. And through that transformation, love reveals its quiet strength.

Monday Awe: Grace in Suffering

St. Augustine: God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.” (Enchiridion, Ch. 11)

Thomas Merton: “Suffering teaches us to let go of illusions and cling to God’s mercy.” (No Man Is an Island)

Julian of Norwich: “Our suffering is held in God’s love, and in that love, we find grace.” (Revelations of Divine Love paraphrased)

Rumi: “Don’t turn away. Keep your gaze on the wounded place. That’s where the light enters you.” (The Essential Rumi paraphrased)

Bhagavad Gita 2:14: “Pleasure and pain, heat and cold, come and go; endure them with courage, for they lead to the Eternal.”

Romans 5:3-5: “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (NIV)