Suffering: A Biological Gift
We are funny beings, creatures of comfort. We dislike feeling awkward, displaced, stretched, or pressed.
And somewhere along the way, we reinvented the meaning of suffering and joy in ways that have deeply shaped not only our spiritual lives, but our emotional, mental, and even physical ones.
As I move through my trauma-informed meditation instructor training, there has been one recurring theme that keeps drawing me in… context
Particularly the psycho education around suffering, what it meant historically, biologically, and spiritually.
Because when my instructor began describing suffering through the lens of human physiology and ancient understanding,
my mind and heart instantly went to Christ.
To His suffering.
To the repeated emphasis in Scripture that He had to suffer.
And then, as though on cue, Romans 5:3 AMP lit up inside me.
“And not only this, but (with joy) let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces paitent endurance”
Suddenly it was obvious, scripture isn’t written merely for external instruction, but for internal formation.
It is a mirror showing us the spiritual, emotional, neurological, and biological architecture of how we are designed.
When I try to sense what it means to “count it all joy” in suffering, I can see why our current state struggles to grasp it.
We fear suffering instinctively, culturally, and generationally.
But when I learned through embodied processing that true healing comes from building the capacity to sit with discomfort, everything began to click.
Joy, in this context, isn’t a smile plastered over pain, it isn’t emotional cheerfulness.
The Greek word used is:
καυχάομαι (kauchaomai) — to rejoice, boast with confidence
This joy is:
a deep confidence that suffering has purpose
a lifting of the heart because of what pressure will produce
a holy pride in what God is forming
joy with backbone rooted in hope, not circumstance
This is the joy Scripture speaks of, a joy that is embodied, not performative. In ancient Jewish and early Christian practice, suffering was understood as:
part of spiritual maturity
something walked through with God
not a sign of failure
not something to be avoided at all costs
But Western culture flipped this, modern beliefs are;
Pain = bad
Comfort = good
This simple shift reshaped our entire nervous system, our expectations of life, and even our theology. It created a culture where:
suffering is feared
hard emotions are avoided
adversity feels like failure
people escape discomfort instead of integrating it
resilience is low
anxiety is high
Even practices like lament changed. Consider the Wailing Wall something that once had a very different purpose but shifted over time into ritualised sorrow and fear.
We inherited customs that subtly contradict the deeper biblical narrative, that God forms us through pressure, not around it.
We see in modern Christian culture, prayer used as escape, worship used as avoidance and faith sold as immunity from pain. People come to God believing that if they do everything “right,” they will avoid struggle.
Yet Scripture teaches the opposite, we are shaped, stretched, and strengthened through it.
And what’s remarkable is that the very practices of faith,
singing, blessing, lifting our head are not only spiritual acts but biological necessities for endurance.
Singing Psalms (especially loudly and together)
Somatic and biological effects:
stimulates the vagus nerve
releases oxytocin (bonding + safety)
synchronizes heart rates
lowers cortisol
increases dopamine + serotonin
Singing is a pressure-release valve for the nervous system. It discharges emotional and physiological tension.
Speaking Aloud (prayer, praise, declaration)
activates the prefrontal cortex → clarity + grounding
interrupts amygdala fear loops
regulates breathing
creates somatosensory feedback
builds resilience pathways
Speaking praise in adversity trains the brain to stay online under pressure, it anchors the nervous system in safety.
Blessing
reframes threat
shifts brain processing from fear to meaning
releases dopamine through expectancy
strengthens identity
regulates posture + breath
Blessing is nervous-system orientation toward hope.
Lifting the Head
A direct physical embodiment of courage, dignity, and hope.
Biological effects:
shifts the system from collapse to empowerment
opens breathing and oxygenation
interrupts freeze states
lowers cortisol
increases resilience
This is why the Psalms repeatedly say, “He is the lifter of my head.”
It is spiritual truth with somatic consequence.
The Mirror of External and Internal
Scripture constantly mirrors the external with the internal.
What happens in the story happens in the body.
What is described in metaphor exists in physiology.
What Christ modelled externally, we are meant to embody internally.
This is why embodiment is not optional, it is necessary.
Without it, we cannot understand suffering.
We cannot understand joy.
We cannot understand transformation.
Suffering is not simply something that happens to us, it is something God uses to:
strengthen
refine
mature
expand capacity
prepare
resurrect
And when we understand suffering through Scripture, through biology, and through embodiment practices, we finally see:
Suffering is not a threat.
It is formation.
It is the pressure that grows the vessel.
It is the refining that produces joy.
True biblical joy, is what blossoms when the heart understands the purpose of pressure.
If this stirred something in you and you’re longing to build the capacity to sit with discomfort or to be held as you learn to witness the quiet joy within. I invite you to join our community rooted in grace, a space for women to be supported, seen, and safely held. If you resonated with this reflection, you may also love our related blog: “Pain Is Inevitable, But Suffering Isn’t: A Somatic & Biblical Truth.”
