Triumph by Testimony

They TRIUMPHED over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their TESTIMONY; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Revelation 12:11

God is good. Jesus is GOOD. People have told me they were amazed that despite my pain I could still stand in awe of God and proclaim that He is good.

I’m not sure I could have as firmly said that several years ago. I would shrink from the question:

Why would a good God allow pain and suffering?

Thanks to the testimony of a woman who lost her 4 year old son to a brain tumor, I have gained a renewed perspective on the goodness of God.

While she watched her son fight for his life, sheer agony ripped through is little body. She could not begin to understand how a good God would allow her small son to suffer in such a way.

But instead of pushing God away in her pain she was able to draw closer to Him because of her firm belief in a good God.

God did not intend life to be this way. Death, suffering, and inexplicable pain were not part of God’s original design. We were created for life. You and I were made for paradise.

But we live in a broken world, a world destroyed by sin.

When we have this renewed picture of God, a Jesus looking God who loves us so desperately He would do anything for us to be in close communion with Him. He did not create suffering or pain but instead He designed us for life, for joy, for greatness.

While He is not a God of suffering, His word is true when He states;

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them

Romans 8:28

You see satan does not get the final word. If we allow God to work through our suffering, we can triumph over pain by ‘the blood of Jesus’.

The book of Job, is a book of suffering. After rereading it, I have a renewed perspective. God did not bring the suffering and pain onto Job, it was Satan. God merely allowed it to happen but He knew how the ending would go. If you can make it through the entire book to the final verse you will see that God triumphed over satan.

Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life.

Job 42:16

I love how it says Job lived a long and full life. What more do we want than to live a long and full life? Even if this life on earth doesn't end up full, our life in heaven surely will.

If we choose to turn towards God in our pain as opposed to push Him away, not only does he comfort us but He triumphs over that pain.

Blogging about my experience through miscarriage was one of the last things I wanted to do. Opening up about such a taboo and painful topic was terrifying to me. But God continued to nudge me, whispering that through my testimony He would TRIUMPH over death.

And triumph He has. I have had the privilege of praying for countless women who are going through the same grief and I have had the opportunity to preach the Good news of Christ to those who suffer.

So my prayer is that you will have this renewed picture of God, that despite the suffering we WILL face, He will be with us and He will TRIUMPH.

Here is Jessica Kelly's beautifully tragic testimony.