People who know me personally know that I am a Christian. By using that term, I mean that I have trusted in Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah, born to die on the cross for our sins. I also believe in the resurrection of his body from the tomb and the gift of eternal life He offers to those who trust in Him.

You may wonder if having a child with a disability has caused my faith in God to deteriorate. I mean, if God is God, why did he allow Bethany to be born with a genetic deletion syndrome? Why did he allow her to be born with a cleft lip and palate? Why did he make her autism so severe that she struggles to talk and to understand other’s speech? Why did he cause sensory processing to be so difficult and even painful for her? Is God really there? And if He is there, is He really good?

He is there. He is good.

I won’t say that I’ve never asked any of those questions. And I won’t say that at times I haven’t struggled with trusting God especially in the hardest moments. But I know that these struggles and these questions have brought me to my knees and driven me closer to the only one who can comfort me and help me get through. These struggles have driven me to the Bible and caused me to claim God’s promises over and over again. They have propelled me into the arms of the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. They have led me to pray and to witness the answers to those prayers.

Can God heal? I believe he can. Jesus healed many who were ill during his earthly ministry (often in the presence of many witnesses). Does God always heal? Not always in this life, but in eternity, yes. He promises that one day, for His redeemed people there will be no more tears and no more pain.

But why is there pain now?  This is the philosophical question that many have struggled with through the centuries. We all go through hard times and the natural question is, “why me?”

I think there are solid Bible answers to these questions but it is very hard to summarize them. I will attempt this:

Firstly, we have to remember that good and evil exist. God and Satan exist. There is a battle going on. God is good and Satan is evil, but Satan wants to make God look like the bad guy. Satan deceived Eve in Eden and he persists in deception to this day.

Secondly, when God created the world and everything in it, initially, it was good. He gave only one rule, a rule to protect man from the knowledge of good and evil by telling them not to eat fruit from that tree. Man broke that one rule and sin entered in. Evil entered in. The curse entered in. Things began to decay. Thorns and weeds grew up. Man’s body began to decay. Things began to die. (Romans 8 speaks of all creation groaning under the bondage of sin.)

God had fairly warned Adam and Eve what would happen if they disobeyed Him, but He gave them the gift of free will. They chose to disobey one rule and it had eternal consequences for all of God’s creation. A proliferation of rules became necessary but unfortunately we still choose regularly to disobey.That is why it became necessary for God to send a Saviour (“God so loved he world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16).

Thirdly, some of the trials we go through today are the direct result of our own sinful choices. Some examples of this are; taking drugs leading to mental health and physical health problems, crime leading to prison time, immorality leading to STDs. There is a law of sowing and reaping in this world.

Fourthly, we read in Job that God allowed Satan to test Job to see if Job’s faith in God was real. Would it stand the test? Satan projected that Job only served God because God had blessed him. God knew it wasn’t true and ultimately He used the trials to bring Job into a greater personal relationship with Himself.

We have two choices when we face difficulties. As Job’s wife suggested, we could “curse God and die.” Or we could turn to God in faith and plead for His help and mercy.

I have made my choice. The Lord has helped me in the midst of difficulties and questions. He can help you too.

‭Psalm 66:12
“You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” (ESV)