American evangelist and Christian writer Philip Yancey, in his book Where Is God When It Hurts? Explores one of the most difficult questions of faith: Where is God when we are suffering?
When life becomes painful, it is natural to wonder why God allows certain things to happen. We pray for healing, breakthrough and deliverance, yet sometimes nothing seems to change. But Yancey reminds us that God’s presence does not disappear simply because we are going through suffering. Even in our darkest moments, God remains present.
The story of Joni Eareckson Tada is a powerful example of this truth.
On July 30, 1967, seventeen-year-old Joni Eareckson dove into the shallow waters of the Chesapeake Bay. She misjudged the depth of the water and struck her head on the bottom.
The accident fractured her cervical vertebrae and left her paralysed from the shoulders down. In an instant, the life she knew changed forever.
Joni and her husband
But the physical injury was only part of her struggle. The first years of rehabilitation were filled with anger, depression and despair. Joni struggled to understand why God had allowed such a devastating accident to happen to her. She prayed for healing and cried out to God. She wanted to walk again.
But the healing she desperately sought did not come in the way she expected.
Christian friends continued to visit her. They read Scripture with her and encouraged her to look beyond her circumstances and recognise the things for which she could still be thankful.
Joni sitting down in a wheelchair
During occupational therapy, Joni learned to hold a paintbrush between her teeth. What began as part of her rehabilitation eventually became a remarkable artistic ability. She began creating beautiful paintings and discovered gifts she never knew she possessed.
Her wheelchair, which initially seemed like a symbol of everything she had lost, eventually became part of a testimony that would reach millions of people around the world.
Joni has spoken openly about asking God why she uses a wheelchair. She prayed fervently for healing, yet her physical condition remained unchanged.
But something else changed. Her understanding of God changed.
She came to realise that trusting God cannot depend entirely on receiving the answers we want. Faith means loving God not only when life is comfortable, but also when life is painful and confusing.
Sometimes we ask God, “Why did You allow this to happen?” But God may lead us to a different question:
“How can I glorify You through what has happened to me?”
This does not mean that suffering is good or that we should pretend pain does not hurt. Christianity does not teach us to deny our tears. Even Jesus wept.
Rather, it teaches us that suffering does not have to have the final word. The Bible tells us about Job, a man who lost almost everything. His possessions were taken away, his children died, and his health deteriorated. Yet in the midst of his unimaginable suffering, Job declared:
“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”— Job 1:21
Those words are difficult to say when we are hurting.
It is easy to praise God when the bank account is healthy, the family is doing well, the doctors bring good news, and our plans are working out.
The real test of faith often comes when nothing seems to make sense. Can we still praise Him when the prayer has not been answered?
Joni’s life teaches us that God’s blessings are not always measured by what He gives us physically. Sometimes the greatest blessing is the grace He gives us to endure what we thought we could never survive.
She could have allowed bitterness to define her life. Instead, she allowed her suffering to become a platform for hope.
Her disability did not become the end of her story. It became part of the story God used to inspire millions. People are reading this who may be going through their own Chesapeake Bay moment, a moment that changed everything without warning.
Perhaps it is the loss of a loved one, financial hardship, a broken relationship, disappointment, failure or a dream that refuses to come true.
Do not conclude that God’s silence means His absence. God can be present even when He appears silent.
We may not understand everything God is doing, but we can trust who He is. The Christian life is not a promise that we will never suffer. It is the assurance that we will never suffer alone.
So, like Job, let us learn to bless the Lord in both abundance and adversity. Let us praise Him when we understand and praise Him when we do not.
Let us thank Him for the blessings we can see and trust Him for the blessings we cannot yet see because sometimes God does not change our circumstances immediately.
Sometimes, He changes us in the middle of those circumstances, and sometimes, the very thing we thought would destroy us becomes the testimony through which God brings hope to someone else.
Keep trusting and praying. The God who is with you on the mountain is the same God who walks with you through the valley, and even when life hurts, God is still God.
