The hardest type of suffering is prolonged deep suffering. This presents greater challenges to our faith since the pain is constant. Examples include the death of a loved one that leaves you lonely, a long debilitating illness, the loss of one’s social network, or working in a hostile environment. One-time tragedies are easier to recover from when they don’t have a drastic lasting impact. Prolonged deep suffering wears away at us like the ocean wears away at boulders. We may not notice how it gradually affects our mindset so we need to watch that it doesn’t make us into negative or dysfunctional people. And we need to keep prolonged deep suffering from damaging our confidence in God’s Scripture.
With prolonged suffering you need to adopt a long-term coping strategy and focus your mind and energy on learning how to get through each day, day after day. You need to strengthen your soul’s defenses, though this can make it difficult to take normal risks that may help you. You have to accept the fact that you will not have many of the enjoyments that others have. You have to accept the fact that God has not answered your prayers yet. You have to accept the fact that you may be less enjoyable to be with than you were before. You have to accept the fact that you may not display the fruits of the Spirit like you did before. You have to accept the fact that you may not sense God’s Spirit like you did before. We accept all these circumstances with humility knowing that Christ makes up for whatever is lacking in us and does not demote us. It is a golden opportunity to crucify pride in our self-image.
Deep suffering reveals our immaturity and corruption. We may discover hidden attachments to destructive desires because we are still attached to pleasure and when our pleasure from God is gone we look for it somewhere else. Thus, whether you are suffering or not, it is helpful to ask yourself what you do when you are really hurting or if you find no sweetness in God? Do you turn to a destructive pleasure such as food, possessions, sex, alcohol or drugs? Do you turn to your old sins? Do you give in to harmful thought patterns such as fear, anger, depression, or unbelief? Then take a closer look at your harmful coping mechanism. Why is it there? What do you think the benefit will be? What is the true cost? What can you do to break that pattern residing in the bottom of your heart? Try going through the Guide to Purification in the chapter on pursuing holiness. This is your opportunity to get free of a weight that is dragging you down.
It is also helpful to understand how suffering affects our mood. If deep suffering makes us despondent about life, then what does that say about our priorities? Doesn’t it mean that we desire the blessings of God more than we desire transformation? Doesn’t it mean that we are not quite so focused on God’s will as we thought? Doesn’t it mean that we are not so willing to embrace the way of the Cross? Doesn’t it mean that our faith is not as strong as we thought? Thus, suffering pinpoints opportunities for greater surrender.
