When Trouble Becomes the Teacher
God uses many ways to grab our attention. Usually His way is gently persuasive. He draws us rather than pushes us. He woos rather than commands. He encourages rather than punishes. But God also creatively uses difficulty to gain our attention. He does not create the difficulty. We are good at doing that; or sometimes the difficulty springs from the brokenness of life itself. But problems can arrest us. And if we are willing to learn from them, they can become our friends. Nouwen speaks of wounds being “a warning, and paralysis an invitation to search for deeper sources of vitality.” We can learn from rejection and disappointment, for they can become the steppingstone to new direction and greater achievement. But this can occur only if we get our attention off the perpetrators of the things that have upset us. It will take place if we develop a pattern where our problems are used creatively for our inner growth. This can occur not only when we use difficulties to tell us something about ourselves, particularly in the way we respond to them, but also when we use them to search for new responses, new purposes, and new dimensions of grace and forgiveness. For no wound can be so great that it cannot drive us to the source of healing.
—Charles Ringma, Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen
God often draws us with gentleness—wooing, encouraging, and guiding. But sometimes, He allows life’s difficulties to get our attention. These challenges don’t come from Him, but from our own choices or the brokenness of the world. Still, if we are willing, they can become teachers—showing us new direction, deeper resilience, and unexpected grace.
When we stop focusing on those who caused our hurt and instead look for what God might be showing us, our wounds can lead to healing. Disappointment, rejection, and hardship can open the door to new responses, fresh purpose, and greater compassion. No wound is so deep that it can’t draw us closer to the One who heals. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics