I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. // Romans 8:18

“You’re perimenopausal,” the doctor said as she looked me directly in the eyes. And as a thirty-one-year-old receiving those words, my heart sunk. Shock and despair are the best ways to describe the emotions that circulated within.

Chronic pain was my story—sometimes debilitating, sometimes manageable, always exhausting. It was easy to feel hopeless, confused, frustrated with the body that God entrusted me with, and frequently lost for answers.

Yet within the physical suffering and mental anguish, I continued to come back to these verses from our First Reading today (see Romans 8:18-35). “Redemption of our bodies” took on a whole new meaning for me. I realized in prayer that we are not simply bodies with souls, but that we are souls with bodies. And that all of the suffering we experience here on earth—when we allow it to—can become the foundation for supernatural joy and gratitude.

With this understanding, my bitterness, frustration, and despair began to be replaced with the desire to learn from my suffering while experiencing it and the knowledge that God walked with me through every moment of suffering. He was not simply a spectator on the sidelines, but a teammate alongside me.

When it felt as if I could find nothing to cling to, He stood firm.

God answered my prayers not by taking all of my suffering away, but by turning my hopelessness into hope—not based on what my body could or could not do—but based on the glory He revealed to me along the way.

He constantly reminded me of the strength He created me for, even amidst my weakness.

So today, may we trust that He is for us and never against us. May we surrender our sufferings to His care and know that He cares deeply for us too. May we freely hope in the glory that is to be revealed to us, because He is a God that never withholds what we need.