The editor's thoughts on the March 2011 issue

A friend of mine found out that her stepfather, the man who had been
her father since she was a child, passed away while she was hours away
from home in a foreign country on a mission trip with her college. I
didn’t know her then, but I’ll never forget the way she talked about
her pain or her description of her tears splattering on the uneven
planks of the hardwood floor in the lobby of the hotel. In my mind’s
eye, I saw her there, sobs wrenching from her body and tears coming
unbidden.

But I’ll also never forget the simple e-mail she got from a friend,
someone we both admire. It simply said, “The aching may remain, but
the breaking will not.”

No, those words aren’t Scripture. They’re the lyrics of a song by
Andrew Peterson called “The Silence of God.” And in the midst of her
suffering, they spoke truth to her—that the pain she felt was real and
would last a long time and may never fully go away. But it wouldn’t
kill her, because the God she loved is the same God who promises to
redeem all things.

As Christ-followers, we sometimes believe a false concept that because
we’re following Jesus, our lives will be problem-free. That we won’t
have to suffer. That God’s biggest role in our lives is to do whatever
makes us happy. But the problem with that idea is that it isn’t true.
Jesus promised that His believers would face persecution and suffering
(John 15:18; 16:33). And the fact is, Jesus Himself suffered greatly
while He was on this earth in human form. If Jesus Christ—the Messiah,
God in human flesh—suffered during His earthly life, why would we
expect that our lives would be free of pain, sorrow, and suffering?

We will face suffering, pain, and loss in this life. It won’t always
seem fair, and at times, we’ll feel overwhelmed and broken by it.
That’s the truth. And this month, we’re telling the truth about
suffering in ec. Jennifer Denning’s cover story, “Faith under Fire” on
page 27, tells the truth that suffering is part of our fallen world
and speaks to the lie that God exists just to make us happy. Through
Anna McKenzie’s article (p. 18), Lindsey Dugue’s quiz (p. 19), and
numerous other devotions and articles, you’ll learn that God can give
us hope even in our deepest sorrows, and He often redeems the things
we thought would kill us so that they shine with His glory. After you
read this issue, I hope you realize that God can even use the
suffering in our lives to bend and break us so that He can mold and
shape us to look more like His Son. You can’t escape suffering in this
world, but you can trust God.

The aching may remain, but the breaking will not.