More from Glenda Durano

Have you ever noticed how quickly we tend to label the storms of life as “bad?” It’s usually not until afterwards, when we’ve reached the other side, that we’re able to look back at a particular season and see that, sometimes, the experience wasn’t so much bad as it was hard. There’s a big difference between the two.

Today’s society worships the idol of ease. That’s why we tend to label easy things (or things we want) as good and hard things as bad. But that’s not always true. In fact, hard can be good—because it’s in those hard, dark times that the light of Jesus’s love can shine the brightest.

When my 21-year-old daughter lost her vision, our family entered the most difficult season of our lives. After six long years and more than thirty operations, it was even harder to admit God was not going to heal our daughter the way we wanted. But it was through the loss of my daughter’s eyesight that God gave us new vision—the ability to see God better and trust God more. During that challenging season, God brought us closer to him than ever before—and we got to know God in ways that only suffering can bring.  And that was GOOD.

That’s why I decided to share the story of our family’s journey into disability in my new book (available on Amazon.) In the book, I invite readers to explore a question that’s often at root of pain: “If God can do anything, why doesn’t he?” It’s a scary question, but one worth asking—one that led me to discover God doesn’t primarily demonstrate love through circumstance; God reveals it through relationship. In this redemptive love story, I share how I grappled with God’s silence in response to my prayer, forging a faith built on relationship instead of results and ultimately discovering that God can use ANYTHING for God’s glory and our benefit when we walk by faith rather than sight. It was a journey that changed my life—and one that I hope will change yours as well.

We all go through hard times—and we need to remember, when God doesn’t still the storm, it’s because God has a greater purpose for it: a purpose rooted in love. Sometimes, we need to go through the storm so we can become more like God.