The following is an excerpt from a book about suffering written by Timothy Downing, Missionary in Ecuador. The book is titled: The Storm Will ComeBuilding Foundations for Inevitable Suffering
Gratitude Without Amnesia
The conclusion of significant trials presents believers with opportunities and temptations that are no less spiritually significant than those encountered during the trials themselves. When circumstances improve, when health returns, when relationships are restored, when financial pressures ease—in short, when the storm passes—the natural human tendency is to feel such relief that the lessons learned during difficulty are quickly forgotten and the spiritual growth achieved through trial is allowed to atrophy through neglect.
This pattern of spiritual amnesia represents one of the most common ways that trials fail to achieve their formative purposes in believers’ lives. The insights gained through suffering, the dependence on God developed during crisis, the compassion for others learned through personal difficulty, and the clarity about priorities achieved through loss—all of these valuable spiritual assets can be squandered if not consciously preserved and cultivated during seasons of relative ease.
The challenge is to maintain the spiritual gains achieved through trial without becoming either nostalgic for past difficulties or anxious about future ones. This requires what might be called “gratitude without amnesia”—the ability to appreciate present relief while remembering the lessons learned through past hardship and remaining prepared for future challenges that will inevitably arise.
The Temptation of Selective Memory
Human memory naturally tends toward selective retention of experiences, emphasizing pleasant recollections while minimizing or forgetting painful ones. This tendency serves valuable psychological functions by enabling recovery from trauma and maintaining hope for the future, but it can also prevent the kind of learning that spiritual maturity requires.
When trials pass, believers often find themselves remembering primarily the negative aspects of their difficult seasons while forgetting the positive spiritual developments that occurred during those same periods. They recall the emotional pain, the financial stress, the relational conflict, or the physical discomfort, but they may forget the deeper prayer life they developed, the stronger faith they discovered, the meaningful relationships they formed, or the clearer priorities they established.
This selective memory prevents believers from appreciating the full value of their trials and makes them more vulnerable to despair if similar difficulties arise in the future. The individual who remembers his unemployment only as a period of anxiety and frustration, while forgetting the spiritual growth he experienced during that time, will be less prepared to respond faithfully if job loss occurs again.
The practice of gratitude without amnesia consciously resists this tendency by maintaining balanced memory that acknowledges both the genuine difficulty of past trials and the genuine benefits that emerged from them. This does not require false nostalgia for painful experiences, but it does involve honest assessment of how trials contributed to spiritual development and appreciation for the divine grace that enabled growth through suffering.
Maintaining Spiritual Gains After Relief
The spiritual disciplines, perspectives, and relationships that sustain believers during trials often require conscious effort to maintain when external pressures diminish. The prayer life that deepened during crisis may become shallow when crisis passes. The scripture reading that provided essential comfort during difficulty may be neglected when comfort is no longer desperately needed. The relationships with other believers that provided crucial support during trial may be allowed to weaken when support seems less necessary.
This pattern represents a profound misunderstanding of spiritual growth, treating the resources developed during trials as temporary expedients rather than permanent assets. The person who prays intensely during health crisis but returns to casual prayer habits when health is restored has missed one of the trial’s most important purposes. The individual who seeks community support during financial hardship but withdraws from community involvement when finances improve has failed to appreciate the full value of what trial taught about the importance of relationships.
Maintaining spiritual gains after relief requires intentional commitment to continuing the practices that proved valuable during difficulty, even when they no longer seem urgently necessary. This might involve continuing the daily prayer routine that developed during crisis, maintaining the scripture reading habits that provided strength during trial, or preserving the community relationships that offered support during hardship.
The key insight is that the spiritual resources developed during trials are not merely means for surviving difficulty but permanent assets for Christian living that prove valuable during seasons of ease as well as seasons of hardship. The deeper prayer life developed during crisis enhances communion with God during peaceful seasons. The stronger community relationships formed during trial enrich fellowship during ordinary times. The clearer priorities established during loss improve decision-making during prosperity.
Testimony as Preservation Method
One of the most effective ways to preserve the lessons learned through trials is to share them regularly with others facing similar difficulties. The practice of testimony—giving witness to God’s faithfulness during past trials—serves multiple purposes: it reinforces the lessons learned through suffering, it provides encouragement to others currently facing hardship, and it creates accountability for continuing to live according to insights gained through difficulty.
Effective testimony balances honest acknowledgment of trial’s difficulty with clear recognition of divine grace that enabled endurance and growth. It neither minimizes the reality of suffering nor exaggerates the ease with which it was overcome. Instead, it provides realistic encouragement that acknowledges the genuine challenges involved while demonstrating that such challenges can be met with resources that divine grace provides.
The businessman who has successfully navigated bankruptcy can offer testimony that acknowledges the genuine difficulty involved while pointing to specific ways that God provided wisdom, strength, and practical assistance during the crisis. The parent who has worked through a child’s rebellion can share honestly about the emotional pain involved while describing how the experience deepened trust in divine providence and clarified priorities about family relationships.
Such testimony serves preservation purposes by requiring the witness to articulate clearly what was learned through trial and how divine grace enabled growth through suffering. The process of putting experience into words often clarifies insights that might otherwise remain vague and creates mental frameworks for remembering lessons that might otherwise be forgotten.
Testimony also creates ongoing obligation to live consistently with what has been learned. The individual who has testified about learning to trust God during financial hardship feels responsibility to continue demonstrating such trust when new financial challenges arise. The person who has witnessed to finding meaning in suffering feels accountable to respond similarly when facing future trials.
Using Seasons of Peace to Prepare for Seasons of Trial
The biblical pattern suggests that seasons of trial and seasons of relative peace alternate throughout believers’ lives, with each type of season serving different purposes in spiritual formation. Seasons of trial test and develop spiritual resources, while seasons of peace provide opportunities to prepare for future challenges and to serve others who are currently facing difficulties.
This understanding prevents believers from viewing seasons of peace as ultimate goals to be achieved permanently and seasons of trial as aberrations to be avoided at all costs. Instead, both types of seasons are recognized as normal parts of Christian experience that serve complementary purposes in the overall process of spiritual maturation.
Spiritual Preparation During Peaceful Seasons
Seasons of relative peace provide optimal opportunities for developing the spiritual disciplines, theological understanding, and community relationships that will prove essential during future trials. Like athletes who train intensively during off-seasons to prepare for competition, believers can use peaceful seasons to build spiritual strength that will be tested when difficulties arise.
This preparation involves both individual and communal dimensions. Individual preparation includes establishing consistent patterns of prayer, scripture reading, and spiritual reflection that will provide resources when they are most needed. It also involves studying biblical and historical examples of faithful endurance so that when trials arrive, the believer possesses models for appropriate response.
Communal preparation involves building relationships within Christian community that can provide support during future difficulties and developing skills for offering comfort and encouragement to others facing current trials. The believer who has established strong community connections during peaceful seasons will find those connections invaluable when personal crisis arrives.
Perhaps most importantly, spiritual preparation during peaceful seasons involves clarifying priorities and values so that when trials test what matters most, the foundation for decision-making is already in place. The individual who has used peaceful seasons to establish clear convictions about the relative importance of career success, material comfort, family relationships, and spiritual growth will be better equipped to make wise choices when circumstances force difficult decisions among competing priorities.
Service Opportunities During Relief
Seasons of personal peace provide opportunities to serve others who are currently facing the kinds of trials that the believer has previously experienced. This service serves multiple purposes: it expresses gratitude for divine grace received during past difficulties, it provides meaning and purpose during seasons that might otherwise feel spiritually stagnant, and it maintains connection with the realities of suffering that could be forgotten during extended periods of ease.
The individual who has recovered from serious illness can visit others facing similar health challenges, offering both practical assistance and spiritual encouragement based on personal experience. The family that has successfully navigated financial crisis can provide guidance and support to others dealing with economic hardship. The parent whose child has overcome addiction can offer hope and practical wisdom to families currently struggling with similar issues.
Such service is particularly valuable because it comes from those who have personally experienced what they are addressing rather than from those who offer merely theoretical knowledge or professional expertise. The cancer survivor who visits current cancer patients speaks with authority that comes from shared experience. The divorced individual who has found healing and purpose after marriage failure offers hope that carries credibility because of personal journey through similar pain.
This service also serves as reminder of divine faithfulness during the believer’s own past trials. The act of encouraging others facing difficulties recalls God’s provision during similar challenges and reinforces confidence in divine grace that will be available during future trials. It prevents the spiritual complacency that can develop during extended seasons of ease by maintaining active engagement with the realities of suffering and the resources available for meeting it faithfully.
The Witness of Scars as Testament to Grace
The resurrected Christ bears the marks of crucifixion in his glorified body, suggesting that some forms of suffering leave permanent marks that become testimonies to divine grace rather than merely reminders of past pain. Similarly, believers who have been shaped by significant trials often carry lasting effects of those experiences that serve as ongoing witnesses to God’s faithfulness and power.
These “scars” may be physical, emotional, or spiritual marks left by past trials that continue to affect present experience in various ways. They might include physical limitations resulting from illness or accident, emotional sensitivities developed through relational trauma, or spiritual insights gained through seasons of doubt or depression. The key question is whether these lasting effects serve constructive purposes in ongoing Christian living or merely represent damage that continues to create problems.
Transforming Scars into Testimony
The difference between scars that testify to grace and scars that merely represent damage lies primarily in how they are interpreted and integrated into ongoing life story. Scars become testimony when they serve as reminders of divine faithfulness during trial, as sources of empathy for others facing similar struggles, or as evidence of personal growth that has occurred through difficulty.
The individual whose marriage has been restored after near-divorce may carry permanent changes in how he approaches conflict resolution, communication, or commitment. These changes can serve as ongoing testimony to what was learned through crisis and as protection against repeating past mistakes. They represent not damage to be overcome but wisdom to be preserved and applied.
The person who has recovered from addiction may maintain lifetime awareness of vulnerability and need for ongoing accountability. This awareness can serve as testimony to the reality of divine grace that enables daily victory over temptation and as qualification for helping others who struggle with similar issues. It represents not weakness to be hidden but strength to be shared.
The believer who has worked through a period of doubt or spiritual depression may retain deeper appreciation for the questions that suffering raises and greater compassion for those who struggle with faith during difficult seasons. This sensitivity can serve as testimony to the reality that faith can survive and even grow through periods of questioning and as resource for helping others who face similar struggles.
Scars as Qualifications for Ministry
Paul’s teaching about comfort suggests that our past experiences of divine grace during trial qualify us for particular forms of ministry to others: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
This principle means that the scars left by past trials can become qualifications for specific forms of service rather than merely personal burdens to be borne privately. The individual who has experienced depression may be uniquely qualified to minister to others facing mental health challenges. The person who has navigated divorce may possess special insight for helping others whose marriages are in crisis. The believer who has dealt with addiction may have particular credibility with those struggling to overcome various forms of bondage.
These qualifications are not automatic—merely having experienced difficulty does not immediately confer wisdom for helping others facing similar challenges. The transformation of personal scars into ministerial qualifications requires the kind of spiritual and emotional processing that enables individuals to understand what they have learned through their trials and how those lessons might benefit others.
But when such processing has occurred, the scars of past trials become invaluable resources for ministry that could not be developed any other way. They provide empathy that comes from shared experience, wisdom that comes from personal journey through specific challenges, and hope that comes from witnessed evidence of divine grace’s sufficiency for particular forms of suffering.
Teaching Others to Build with Foundations Intact
Perhaps the most important use of lessons learned through trials is passing them on to others who have not yet faced similar challenges but who inevitably will encounter difficulties of their own. This teaching serves both preventive and preparatory purposes: it helps others avoid some of the mistakes that complicate suffering unnecessarily, and it helps them develop resources that will serve them well when their appointed trials arrive.
Preventive Teaching: Learning from Others’ Mistakes
Many of the difficulties that believers face are compounded by poor preparation, unwise responses during crisis, or inadequate understanding of resources available for dealing with hardship. Effective teaching by those who have navigated trials successfully can help others avoid some of these complicating factors while still allowing them to experience the formative benefits that appropriate trial provides.
The individual who has learned through experience the importance of maintaining spiritual disciplines during difficult seasons can teach this lesson to others before their trials arrive. The person who has discovered how community support enables faithful endurance can help others build relationships that will serve them well during future challenges. The believer who has found peace through accepting what cannot be changed while working to address what can be changed can pass on this wisdom before others face similar decisions.
This preventive teaching is not meant to eliminate trials from others’ experience but to increase the likelihood that those trials will serve their intended formative purposes rather than becoming merely destructive experiences. The goal is to help others build spiritual foundations during seasons of peace so that when storms arrive, their houses will stand rather than collapse.
Preparatory Teaching: Building Anticipatory Resilience
In addition to helping others avoid unnecessary mistakes, effective teaching prepares them to respond faithfully when difficulties do arise. This involves sharing both practical wisdom about managing various types of challenges and spiritual insights about finding meaning and purpose within unwelcome circumstances.
The parent who has successfully raised children through adolescent rebellion can prepare other parents for similar challenges by sharing both specific strategies that proved helpful and larger perspectives that enabled faithful perseverance during difficult seasons. The employee who has navigated job loss successfully can help others prepare for similar possibilities by discussing both practical steps for career transition and spiritual resources for maintaining identity and purpose during professional uncertainty.
Perhaps most importantly, preparatory teaching helps others develop realistic expectations about what trials involve and what resources are available for meeting them faithfully. This prevents the shock and disillusionment that often occur when believers encounter significant difficulties for the first time without adequate preparation.
The goal of such teaching is not to create anxiety about future troubles but to build what might be called “anticipatory resilience”—the kind of spiritual strength and practical wisdom that enables appropriate response when challenges actually arrive. Like vaccination that prepares immune systems to fight diseases they have not yet encountered, good teaching about trials prepares believers to respond faithfully to difficulties they have not yet faced.
The Ongoing Rhythm of Seasons
The ultimate perspective on using seasons of peace to prepare for seasons of trial recognizes that this rhythm will continue throughout believers’ earthly lives. There is no final graduation from the school of suffering, no achievement of spiritual maturity that guarantees immunity from future challenges. Instead, Christian living involves ongoing movement between seasons of relative difficulty and seasons of relative ease, with each season serving important purposes in the overall process of spiritual formation.
This understanding prevents both the assumption that achieving certain levels of spiritual maturity should eliminate future trials and the despair that can result from encountering new forms of difficulty after successfully navigating previous challenges. It establishes the expectation that growth will continue throughout life and that new challenges will provide opportunities for new forms of spiritual development.
The mature believer is not one who has learned to avoid all suffering but one who has learned to respond faithfully to whatever forms of suffering arise, using each trial as opportunity for deeper growth in Christlike character while serving others who face similar challenges. Such maturity is demonstrated not by the absence of struggle but by the consistent application of spiritual resources to whatever struggles emerge.
This rhythm of seasons also provides hope during present difficulties by maintaining awareness that current trials, however severe, are not permanent conditions but temporary seasons that will eventually give way to periods of relative peace. This hope does not minimize present pain or promise quick resolution of current problems, but it does provide larger perspective that can sustain faithful endurance when immediate circumstances offer little encouragement.
The believer who has learned to navigate this rhythm faithfully discovers that both seasons of trial and seasons of peace serve essential purposes in spiritual formation and that the goal of Christian living is not to achieve permanent comfort but to maintain faithful response to whatever circumstances divine providence permits. Such faithfulness becomes itself a form of worship that honors God regardless of external conditions while providing powerful witness to the transformative power of divine grace working through human response to the full range of life’s experiences.
When the storm passes, the wise believer expresses gratitude for relief while preserving lessons learned through difficulty, uses peaceful seasons to prepare for future challenges while serving others currently facing trials, and maintains the perspective that both seasons serve divine purposes in the ongoing work of spiritual formation that will continue until the final storm has passed and the eternal calm begins.
We’re delighted to share this book with you one post at a time. If you’d prefer to hold this book in your hands—there’s something beautiful about turning actual pages as you study God’s Word—you can easily order a physical copy from Amazon by simply clicking on the book image above.
