Does experiencing awful pain get us closer to God?

[humble soul]

Not necessarily but...
I think of people who have heart transplants for example.
Kids with cancer....
does the pain keep them in the spiritual realm?
Certainly when I experience no pain in life, I get quite conceited. As if nobody else is trying hard enough. I'm proud of my progress and effort.
Real suffering stops us in our tracks. The opportunity is there to grow in wisdom and strength. Are we up to it?

 

[humble soul]

This is not to suggest that pain is a good thing. I am neither sadist nor masochist.
But maybe I am saying that pain can be a good thing. Can be an opportunity. I hesitate to romanticise sharing Calvary with Jesus. But maybe there is something in this.
Out of evil comes good?
I try to imagine my mother's pain in her last days of lung cancer. But maybe the morphine was helping enormously.
I am a wimp when it comes to pain. When I read stories of sports players playing rugby with a broken jaw, for example. I could never do that.
If we don't face the pain of life, the pain gets worse.

 

[humble soul]

I have mild pain every day. That doesn't make me a hero. In fact it makes me pessimistic about the future. It should motivate me to fast track a good solution.
When I'm in pain at work, I dream of getting home, off my feet and relaxing.
And if I have to suffer humiliations from my boss, the physical pain feels worse. Psychological pain is worse. It affects everything.

 

[EvolvingChristian]

I believe there is some spiritual benefit to Earthly suffering that we might not necessarily understand just yet.

 

[Tessa]

When we suffer both physical pain and mental or emotional pain at the same time it can be horrendous. Crying out to the Lord to be with us and to help us get through it and then believing He will do brings us very close to God. It amazing what we can get through if we just rest in Yhe Lotd. How great is His love.