Dark Night of the Soul

The bible verses below are a little longer than my usual, but they set the stage for my thinking about trials.  In my past, I would read about Paul being beaten, stoned and imprisoned and calmly think "Well, God gave him faith to handle it and so all was fine."  Guess what, I WAS WRONG!  Big news flash huh?  When someone is beaten, it hurts, when someone is in stocks it is awful. When someone loses a loved one, or is in the midst of a horrible trial they hurt and are broken. 

I had a crisis of faith some years back. When my marriage broke up, I hurt so bad it felt like cancer on the inside. After 3 or 4 years of the divorce, I was still hurting. I felt abandoned by God. I was hurt and angry. Everytime I went to church I would cry. I felt He had abandoned me. I was going through a "Dark Night of the Soul."

From Wikipedia

Typically for a believer in the dark night of the soul, spiritual disciplines (such as prayer and consistent devotion to God) suddenly seem to lose all their experiential value; traditional prayer is extremely difficult and unrewarding for an extended period of time during this "dark night." The individual may feel as though God has suddenly abandoned them or that his or her prayer life has collapsed.

I survived, I came back stronger, but I would not wish this on ANYONE!  I can say it has helped me to help others. At least in the bible verse below Paul and Silas were together in their trails. I know if I go through this again, I will understand.  I wish I had known about this while going through it.

Acts 16:16-24  ²² The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. ²³ After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴ When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

 ²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. ²⁷ The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
 ²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

 ³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. ³⁴ The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.