There are moments in life when the storm feels unbearable. When it knocks us down, leaves us broken, and makes us wonder if we’ll ever rise again. But sometimes, we need the storm, not because we enjoy the suffering, but because it opens doors we never could have imagined. It takes us places we never thought we’d go and allows us to reach people we never could have reached before.
I think about Paul in Lystra. He was preaching the Gospel, doing what God had called him to do, and for that, he was stoned. Not just beaten or imprisoned, but stoned to the point that the people thought he was dead. They dragged his body outside the city and left him there, assuming it was over. And in any normal situation, it would have been. But God wasn’t finished.
Paul got up. Bruised, battered, but not broken. And instead of running in the opposite direction, instead of saying, “I’m never going back there again,” he returned. First, he left for a time, but later, he came back. And when he did, he strengthened the believers there. What the enemy meant to destroy him, God used to build something greater.
It makes me wonder, how often do we face trials, only to assume that’s the end of the story? How often do we suffer and decide we never want to go back to that place, that relationship, that calling? But what if God is saying, “Not yet. I’m not done. What the enemy meant for evil, I will use for good.”
Paul didn’t go back as the same man. He went back with experience. With scars. But also with a testimony that couldn’t be denied. The people who had tried to kill him now saw that not even death could stop the message he carried. And because of that, the number of believers grew.
Maybe you’re in a storm right now. Maybe you’ve been through one so painful that you never want to return to where it happened. But what if your return isn’t about reliving the pain but about showing others what God can do? What if your scars are the testimony someone else needs to see to believe that God is still in the business of redemption?
The storm isn’t the end. The suffering isn’t the final chapter. Sometimes, we need the storm to take us places we wouldn’t have gone on our own. Sometimes, the very thing meant to destroy us is what God will use to bring life to others.
So, if God is calling you back, back to the place of pain, back to the people who rejected you, back to the situation that almost broke you, don’t be afraid. You’re not going back the same. You’re going back stronger. You’re going back as a testimony. And through you, God will reach those who never would have believed before.
What the enemy meant for evil, God will always use for good.
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