{"id":38133,"date":"2020-06-12T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/suffering-is-fertile-it-can-grow-new-life\/"},"modified":"2020-06-12T12:45:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T12:45:00","slug":"suffering-is-fertile-it-can-grow-new-life","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/suffering-is-fertile-it-can-grow-new-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Suffering Is Fertile \u2013 It Can Grow New Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&quot;Man has places in his heart which do not yet exist, and into them enters suffering, in order that they may have existence,&quot; said Leon Bloy, a French Catholic writer and convert from Judaism. As Archbishop Charles Chaput observes, &quot;Suffering can bend and break us. But it can also break us open to become the persons God intended us to be. It depends on what we do with the pain. If we offer it back to God, He will use it to do great things in and through us, because suffering is fertile. It can grow new life.&quot;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3454,3523,3524,3762,3786,3856,3981,4104,4133,4442,4584,4665,5022,5086,5103,5191],"tax_ctp_topics":[380,382],"class_list":["post-38133","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-attitude","tax_ctp_tags-broken-heartedness","tax_ctp_tags-brokenness","tax_ctp_tags-depravity","tax_ctp_tags-disappointment","tax_ctp_tags-emotions","tax_ctp_tags-feelings","tax_ctp_tags-growth","tax_ctp_tags-heart","tax_ctp_tags-meaning-of-life","tax_ctp_tags-pain","tax_ctp_tags-positive-or-negative-tone","tax_ctp_tags-sorrow","tax_ctp_tags-stress","tax_ctp_tags-suffering","tax_ctp_tags-trial"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Suffering Is Fertile \u2013 It Can Grow New Life - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/suffering-is-fertile-it-can-grow-new-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suffering Is Fertile \u2013 It Can Grow New Life - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;Man has places in his heart which do not yet exist, and into them enters suffering, in order that they may have existence,&quot; said Leon Bloy, a French Catholic writer and convert from Judaism. 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