God’s Design for Suffering: How Spiritual Practices Help Us in Our Suffering

By Rochelle Zieman

Throughout her life, author Rochelle Zieman has suffered because of unfortunate events. During that time, she’s learned a lot about the Lord and a lot about suffering, understanding how God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. We can’t work our way through a situation without God’s help.

In God’s Design for Suffering, she shares her story against the backdrop of her experiences, telling how God helped her face these trials. Zieman reveals how he gave her, and gives all of us, spiritual practices to live out when we’re suffering and when we’re not.

With songs, poems, and prayers included, God’s Design for Suffering teaches what suffering is and what to do in its seasons such as prayer, reading the Bible, giving thanks, seeking help from other Christians, worship, and changing the way we think. Zieman communicates that times of suffering teach lessons that present opportunities to love others and love the Lord more deeply.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664278240

Rochelle Zieman

Rochelle Zieman is thirty-six years old and is a native of Whittier, California. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Christian ministry from California Baptist University. Currently, she ministers to family, in her church, and sometimes with various shelters.

Book preview

GOD’S

DESIGN

for SUFFERING

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How Spiritual Practices

Help Us in Our Suffering

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ROCHELLE ZIEMAN

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Copyright © 2022 Rochelle Zieman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Andrea Henriquez

ISBN: 978-1-6642-7823-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-7825-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-7824-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022917074

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/27/2022

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living

Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale

House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International

Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.

TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version® Copyright © 1982

by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers.

Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally

registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English

Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry

of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®,

Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation.

Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard

Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.

Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and

HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used

by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois

60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living

Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996,

2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

1. The Elephant in the Room: Let’s Talk about Suffering

2. Different Types of Suffering in the Bible

3. Understanding It’s Part of God’s Sovereign Plan

4. Inside Out

5. Beholding the God We Cannot See

Part 1: Spiritual Practices to Help You Through

6. Prayer

7. Fasting

8. Worship

9. Bible Reading

10. Serving

Part 2: Helpful Things to Practice

11. Gratitude

12. Think upon These Things

13. Seek Support from Others

Part 3: True Stories and the Second Greatest News

14. Using Your Umbrella: True Stories

15. The Second Greatest News

Epilogue

Songs from the Heart

Since the Day I Surrendered

Oh God, You Have Not Forgotten About Me

Only You Are Holy

Jesus Calling (The Song)

Grace

I’m Not Worthy

Why Would God Set His Love on Me?

Come Lord Jesus, Come (Have Your Way)

A Prayer Song

Poems and Prayers

My Heart’s Desire

The Cross I Have

God, You Saved Me

Blood of Forgiveness

Precious Cornerstone

Dare I Say I Love You, Lord?

References

DEDICATION

First Bilingual Baptist Church—It is amazing what the Lord can do in an individual. To have love for people who aren’t your biological family yet care for them as so is a testament to God and what He did for us through Christ. It is because we are reconciled to Him and abide in His Son that we can genuinely love one another. The deeper I get to know and love Christ, the deeper I get to know the meaning of loving you. My love for you is not perfect, and neither is yours for me, but I have experienced your love through many seasons of suffering, and I thank God for you. This book is for you, to express my love and gratitude, and to encourage you to keep the faith. This is my way of serving you.

The Lord bless you.

Jesus Christ:

Because you suffered well on my behalf and never lost sight of your purpose on earth. You minimize the vision of my earthly sufferings by maximizing the view of what my reward for persevering will be, you.

I love you.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I give my love and thanks to my parents, who contributed to the making of this book. Thank you for always loving me and believing in me. I thank all those vulnerable enough to share parts of their lives in this book to encourage others and glorify God.

I thank Pastor Luis, who read some of my manuscript. His help in looking for clear errors outside the lines of theology was helpful. He helped me be clear by questioning some of my points whether they aligned with his perspective or not, and for that I’m grateful. I thank his wife, Veronica, and their three children for their patience while he helped.

Andrea, I appreciate you for illustrating my book. You are greatly talented, and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the artistic world. Keep using your gifts as you have here for the glory of God.

I give a special thanks to the team at WestBow Press. From the beginning, they’ve been willing to answer my every question in a timely manner and make the process of getting this book published easy.

PREFACE

I wish I could paint a good picture of myself, but I cannot. The greatest thing about me is Jesus Christ, and that’s good news; what Christ can do to change a life is solely His work, and it’s the only thing I have to boast about since He changed mine.

I am not something to be made much of. Christ is the only one to be made much of because He is holy and I come nowhere close to being perfect. Do I strive for holiness? Yes. Will I achieve complete holiness this side of heaven? No. But I move forward with one goal in mind and one reward in focus, Christ. I leave behind my sin and the sins committed against me because it was part of God’s plan to save me from the path I was on, and it is now His plan to use it to further His kingdom. I am clay in the potter’s hand, not damaged or broken goods, and He is doing a good work in me, in all of us.

My love for Christ has grown to a place it would not have been if He hadn’t shown me I needed forgiveness for my sins. I now know the gospel and have come to understand it in its entirety and especially the concept of grace. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear¹ the Lord. I believe this to be so because before, my mouth would say one thing, confess Christ, but my heart would say another. My walk with God is different from what it was before; it is much more Christ centered and gospel centered now rather than me centered. I now live for His honor and desire to flee from sin and seek sanctification. I’ve seen the transformation that grace has brought into my life. Grace has allowed me to forgive, fight sin, repent, and love others.

I know that who I am today is all because of Jesus Christ, who deserves all the glory, and I know that any shame the enemy tries to make me feel about my life has been removed by Christ and the grace He offers. Christ is not ashamed to call me His. Believers should know that His grace covers them and that He loves us enough to not be ashamed of us. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because Christ is not ashamed of me.

As I have suffered over the years due to unfortunate events and wrongs committed against me, health issues, and some of my decisions, I have learned a lot about the Lord and a lot about suffering. I’ve learned that people understand God does not give us more than we can handle.

We cannot will or work our way through a situation without God’s help. Many go through things they can’t handle, and I think life wasn’t meant to be handled by us apart from God. I need your help right now, God, to help me get through this! I think we were meant to depend on God in surrender in all areas at all times while taking up our armor to fight our battles. He can act on our behalf in the good and even when all we see is negativity. He also gives us the power to fight our bad circumstances. He promises He will be there handling it for us as He allows those circumstances in life.

One way He handles our trials is by giving us ways to navigate them. He is very involved in our suffering. We are to leave it in His hands while learning to deal with it. I’ve learned some ways, and I’ve learned that by not using all or some of these tools, I am not actively taking care of myself and doing my part. The times when my faith is put to the test are opportunities to exercise the spiritual disciplines for the benefit of my soul.

It is out of those times that I wrote this book to help you learn from my and others’ experiences how to apply the spiritual disciplines in your life while suffering, though that will be different from person to person, and offer guidelines for applying them and the benefits of having them as a part of your suffering.

I started writing this book while I was going through health issues in 2013. Let’s just say it looked very different from this finished product. It was only fifty pages long and was focused on just a few scriptures and quotes and a few personal examples but not a lot of content.

I finished the first draft in 2015 and decided to call the publisher in 2018 after a difficult circumstance. But I believed God wanted me to use some of the same concepts but rewrite the whole thing. I was coming out of a season of struggles in my faith and trials with my health. I had understood grace as I hadn’t before and saw through that lens. And I could love with a different perspective, a different heart.

As I wrote this book between 2018 and 2021, I endured a hospital stay and the toughest journey ever from a place of bad health to where I had a better mindset and a view on life because of grace. I grew a lot in the last year when I began my journey through Romans. I struggled with my health all the way through, adjusting meds that made my hair fall out and caused me to fall into a deep sleep for two hours a day.

But as I persevered and served God, I decided to honor Him no matter what dark path life could take me on again. I had dark moments in 2019 and 2020, but I know God is faithful so I must be in return. I doubted a couple of times, but my doubt was always faced with the reality that He wasn’t doubting Himself.

As I struggled over this year and rewrote my manuscript, God used that time to show me His strength and guide my writing. I think this book is a richer experience for readers this side of life than what it would’ve been if I had printed it earlier. He brings things into fruition in their season.

I wrote this book mainly for Christians, but I wouldn’t say it’s closed off to anyone who wants to learn. If you are a Christian, you will understand it more clearly. If you are not, you will most likely be left somewhat confused or with questions. I encourage you to reach out to a Christian who can answer your questions. We all suffer; what we may differ in is how we handle our suffering.

In all it took to write this book, the life experiences and challenges and now joy, there is so much peace and comfort knowing that just as God changed my life, He can change others’’ lives for His glory.

To Those Seeking

I’ve been waiting for the day you’d open this book. I had you in mind as I wrote it, and this part especially. People all over the world go through suffering and wonder what they should do to honor God in the midst of it.

As a Christian, I have found the things here helped guide me through. Many of these things may work for you as well, but since you are not a follower of Christ, they won’t be as helpful because your experience of suffering won’t be the same as a Christian’s. Without Christ, you will see no purpose in your suffering and no way out. I am telling you this so you will see a need for salvation to get you through your suffering.

Christ is the answer to all our suffering, the key for it coming to an end on earth or in eternity with Him. Without Christ, our suffering will be meaningless, but with Christ, we can find meaning in it.

God is holy, and His standard is perfection, but man sinned, and that separated him from God. Christ was sent to reconcile man with God through the shedding of His blood, repentance of their sin, and their confession of Christ as Lord. This reconciliation created a way to eternal life spent with Jesus. He is to be our beginning and end. The longer you reject Him, the further you will be from Him and the closer to eternal suffering in hell.

Your suffering on earth is nothing compared to the suffering you will face in hell. Don’t waste time. Tomorrow is never promised. Two minutes from now is never promised. Jesus Christ said in Mark 1:15 (NASB), The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel, and 2 Corinthians 6:2 (NIV) says, Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. Recognize your sin and turn from it. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But God doesn’t care about how many times you’ve sinned. All it takes is for one sin to be committed and you become a perfect candidate for judgment.

Romans 6:23 (NASB) says, For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Romans 10:9 (NASB) reads, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. I encourage you to read the book of John and Romans to learn about Jesus and salvation and how God helps lead a Christian into the life of faith.

God is gracious and wishes none to perish but knows some will (2 Peter 3:9). Because of God’s Son, there is mercy before the final judgment. God gives us grace and mercy so we don’t have to be condemned. There is no such thing as mercy after the final judgment. It is by grace that we can be saved, and this is through our faith in Christ. We can never earn salvation because it’s a gift. Salvation is God’s doing. You can read this in Ephesians 2:8–9.

The choice is yours. If you say yes, this book can be a tool to get you through the suffering you will face. Jesus Christ is ultimately the one who will get you through your suffering. At the end of your life, you will be able to identify with all Christians at the return of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Don’t rely on my book alone for answers to life. It was written to be a reminder and exhortation to guide people through difficult times and help them fix their eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of their faith. He endured the cross for the joy set before Him, despised its shame, and is now sitting at the right hand of God.

Turn to the Bible, God’s words to you. They have power to save and heal broken hearts. They are life.

Finally, please read this whole book. Don’t stop here. You are special to me and other Christians. More important, you are very special to God, who created you.

We are all fallen creatures in need of a Savior. We all need His grace and love.

With the love of Christ,

Rochelle Zieman

INTRODUCTION

As I was writing God’s Design for Suffering, the coronavirus hit. I