God Loves You! I know that may sound foreign and humorous to you in your situation right now. God’s love may be the furthest thing you feel right now. Is that you? Are you going through something you’ve never imagined you would have to go through? It sounds unfair, right? Why did it happen to you? What did you do so wrong that you deserved this kind of pain? How could God be so cruel as to allow such agony and pain? Isn’t God love? Where is His love in all this?
If this is you, I am so sorry for your pain. I pray that God would relieve and ease whatever you are going through. I cannot imagine the suffering you must be feeling right now. It truly is unfair what happened. There is no rhyme or reason why it happened. 
It could have happened to anyone. But why you? Why now? Why, when you have been doing better and made some changes? What was the point of trying to do good and be better if this is the end result? My heart goes out to you, friend. I hope and pray the pain will go away. All I can do from my little corner is to provide some assurance and comfort to you. I do not know the answers to what you may be facing, but I have had my share of pain and struggles. I believe everyone has. We all live together on this planet called Earth, and we all breathe the same air. We are all connected in some way, and we feel each other’s pain in remembering our own moments of heartache and suffering. I can only imagine the pain and hurt you are feeling right now. These are hurts that you would not even wish upon your enemies, yet here you are living it.
Life becomes real in these moments. All the little things in life suddenly faded away, and you are left with having to deal with things no one should have to go through. The pain is real. Life and death can suddenly be right in front of your face. 
All future plans, hopes, and dreams have suddenly disappeared. What started out as a normal day has turned into a nightmare. Why is this happening? Where is God in all this? As I am writing this, my heart is broken for anyone who has recently asked those questions. I weep for you because I have also been through tremendous pain and suffering, and your pain triggers mine because we are all connected together somehow. I believe that as believers in Christ, we are all one body and one heart. In a body, if pain is felt in one part of the body, so is the rest of the body. And I know why I am weeping as I write this. I can feel your pain, and I am so sorry for you. Please accept my condolences for what has happened to you or to your loved ones.
Please know that the pain won’t last. It is only temporary. You will stand again, and you will be able to overcome this. I promise you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you will overcome. In Christ, death was conquered and defeated. It is not the end. It is only the beginning of life. 
Our life on earth is fleeting and temporary. Our life was meant to be with God. Due to sin and corruption, God’s presence is no longer felt in our world. But we can feel Him in our hearts. If you believe that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross paid for all your sins, and believe in Him in what He said and did, then you have God in your heart. Trust in Jesus’ finished work on the cross, and you will be saved. Saved from the pain and misery of this life. The pain you are suffering is deep and real. No one else can feel that pain because it belongs to you. But when God placed the sin and pain of all humanity on His Son on the cross, He felt your pain. He knows what you are going through, and he has felt it on the cross. Believer, you are not alone. I can only imagine your pain, but Jesus felt it and knows it. He knows you more intimately than you know yourself. He was with you since the beginning, and has promised he will be with you in the end. He has never left you. Right now, he is beside you, holding you, comforting you in your pain. He knows you more than anyone else can. He is God, and he knows the hurt inside. Trust in him and turn to him for salvation in your pain.
He does not promise you healing, although he can; He does not promise you resurrection right now, although he can; What he does promise you is hope, a future, and assurance of your salvation in him.
Life is difficult, and he promised life would be hard, but that is not the end. He promised a life beyond this one. I know it may be hard to believe and understand all this, especially if you have never heard of Jesus Christ, but there is hope and promise of assurance in Christ. Life may not have turned out the way you expected, nor were the cards dealt to your favor, but life has a way of healing itself, and time is what’s needed for healing. Trust in Jesus today. Then trust in him tomorrow, and so on, and so on. Trust him every day of your life, and you will begin to feel him walking by you step by step. Your God loves you and forgives you. Don’t turn away his love. Run to it. His arms are open wide. He is ready to embrace you forever and show you the promised life he has waiting for you in heaven. Run to him.
God loves you! He has not abandoned you, nor has he ever left your side. He was there when it happened. He was there when you heard the terrible news. He was there right next to you. Do you believe it? The reason you are able to continue is because of him. Jesus has been by your side. 
You may ask, then, if God loves me, why did this have to happen? As much as we want answers, there are some that can only be revealed in holiness and before Perfection. We may not ever get an answer to our questions, but in the end, would the reason have changed anything? If we knew what was about to happen, would we have really changed our ways, or would we have done anything differently? Would that have made a difference? If so, then we cannot blame God for what happened because we are saying that if we had done something differently, then the outcome would have been different. We are saying our life was in our control, so whatever happened, it was because of our decision. First thing, if that is the case, we can only blame ourselves for what happened, and not blame God. Secondly, if God allowed it, then we are free of guilt and have the right to blame God. Some would say, How can you blame God for evil? God does not commit evil, nor does he lead someone to evil. If we understand the Christian faith correctly, we know that God does not sin nor lead anyone to sin.
We also believe that God is omnipotent, meaning he is in control. So if God is in control, then he could have stopped whatever happened, right? Some want to protect God’s good nature by stating that, because of sin, God could not do anything, or they may say that, because we have freedom of choice, God could not do anything. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time accepting that. To say God could not do something is to say God is powerless. 
Truly, if God could not do anything, then he cannot be God, for the very definition of “God” is all supreme power over all things. There is no denying the awesome authority and power of God. He can do all things, but he doesn’t always do all things. What that means is, we hope and expect our lives to turn out a certain way. We want to feel control over our lives and decisions. We are not robots or puppets under control. Then is it right to blame God for what happened? Maybe I wouldn’t use the word blame, because blaming implies misdeeds from the one being blamed. God knew what would happen. He knew the diagnosis you would get. He knew the suffering you would go through, and yet still allowed it. Yes, that is true. God allowed your pain to happen. That may not sound encouraging to you at this moment, but if we are to believe in the God of the Bible, then he had to have allowed it to occur. SO the real question we are asking is, Why? Why did God allow it to happen? It seems cruel and unfair. We see bad people getting away with murder, and good people suffer throughout history. Why? Is God sadistic in some narcissistic way, or is there something else going on?
The why question is always the most difficult question to answer, because it deals with the reason and mind of God. To ask why is to ask for the reason. Unfortunately, why questions are never answerable, because you have to be God to know that. No one can know the mind of God, and unfortunately, no one can know the reason why God allows something. It is his secret and mystery. What we can know is who God is. 
The Bible tells us God is love. He is good, kind, forgiving, merciful, gracious, patient, long-suffering, and holy, to name a few. These are his attributes. They tell us who God is and his nature. We can only answer the why questions by replacing them with who. Who allowed this to happen? God did. Then how is this supposed to assure us and help us? Doesn’t it sound contradictory and conflicting? Why would a good God allow bad things to happen to you? This is the dilemma we face in times of trials and tribulations. You felt as though you may know God, and believe he is good, but how well do you know this? How do you know he is good? By the gifts he gives you? By helping you get that great job or promotion? By helping you coast through life without many incidents? Is that the limits of God’s goodness? IF that is your idea of God, then he is comparable to a butler or Santa Claus. He only exists to make your life comfortable. That is a small and weak picture of God. He is so much more than an assistant ready at our service. How silly for an ant in an ant farm to think that the human taking care of it is there for the ant at its beck and call. If the human knew that’s what the ant was thinking, he would probably crush it between his fingers. I am so grateful God does not react or respond like we do. If so, I would not be here.
Who is God? Why does he allow evil to occur? I can only answer these questions by stating who he is. He is good and has a good reason for what he allows and does. Nothing happens by accident, and ultimately, it was not your fault. Don’t blame yourself for what has happened to you. Don’t blame others for what has happened to you. Don’t blame God, but understand who he is. God is good. He will not allow evil to win. God has defeated death on the cross for a good reason. Unbelievers can look back at the message of the gospel and say, 
What kind of cruel God would punish and kill his own Son? From an outsider’s point of view, that does look cruel. But from inside, we know the truth. God did it for you. Jesus died for you. When Jesus hung on the cross for over six hours, dying, we only have a record of seven sayings before he died. In between those saying, I wonder what was going through the mind of Christ as he hung there on the cross. What was he thinking? Did he say to himself, This was unfair? Why did he have to die for sinners? How is that just and right? No! I can only speculate what was going through his mind, but knowing who Jesus is and the love he has for his people, I believe we were on his mind in those moments. Every pain and hurt that rang through his arms and feet, every joint and muscle about to tear from their limbs, he had us on his mind. He was thinking about us as he was dying. He was longing to be with us and knew that if he just held on long enough, it would be finished. Brothers and sisters in Christ, he was thinking about you on the cross. Every pump of his heart, every breath his lungs could hold, he was thinking about you. He died so you can live. He lived so you won’t die. He loves you! God loves You. Believe him.
+++ If you would like further support and prayer, sign up for our FFUToday Community and check out our Resources page. I have provided many links connecting you to various organizations that can support your specific needs and concerns. For example, Mesothelioma Hope is a great site that helps those who are suffering from cancer and integrates spiritual well-being with faith to further assist with overall recovery and support.
