Jun 5

Jun 5 Drawing Near to God in Our Painful Experiences by Hadassah Treu

Why me? Why this? Why now? How am I going to heal from this pain? Where are you, Lord?

These are the questions many of us often ask when we lay awake in the night, with tears burning down our cheeks.

These are the questions I asked numerous times in my life as no stranger to trauma, suffering, and losses. Born and raised in a communist country, God found me when as a teenager struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. Later on, as a married woman, I faced another heart-wrenching pain: the inability to become a mother. I thought this was the most devastating experience that plunged me into anxiety disorder, panic attacks and depression, but I was wrong. My hardest journey began in 2020, when I lost unexpectedly my husband, my closest person, and ventured into the uncharted and dangerous territory of grief.

I needed a new perspective, a deeper understanding, and the assurance of God's love and good plans in my pain. I longed for comfort and hope. My struggle was to see and embrace meaning and purpose in my suffering.

We all struggle with this. We all need a Biblical perspective and a new look at suffering to help us reconcile our painful experiences with what we know about God.

Born out from my deepest trauma and struggle with disillusionment in faith, my book DRAW NEAR: How Painful Experiences Become the Birthplace of Blessings focuses on 13 painful experiences as surprising gifts of grace designed to mature and prepare the believers and draw them closer to God. It is designed to help the readers to:

Increase their ability to trust God amidst painful and traumatic experiences.
Draw near to God when they are tempted to pull away.
Recognize they are not punished by their painful experiences but blessed in Christ to give birth to their true selves, and God's unique purposes and callings in their life.
Make peace with a painful past or present and start living a life with a mission.
Transform the story of their painful experiences into a story of preparation, empowerment, fruitfulness, and growth.

Writing this book was part of my healing journey. From the wasteland of my suffering, I emerged with a mission: to encourage hurting souls to trust God in the darkness of pain and adversity so they can endure and keep their faith.

What I've learned and want to shout from the rooftops: "Take heart, there are no dead ends with the Lord. He is the Master Builder and Transformer, bringing beauty from the ashes and new life from the graves."

The Lord breathed meaning and purpose into every moment, which I thought was wasted. He used what I deemed useless to produce a harvest of peace, righteousness, maturity, new dreams, and assignments.

He can do the same for every one of us.

About Hadassah

An award-winning bilingual author, blogger, poet, speaker, and motivator, a communication specialist and translator, holding a master's in international relations, living in Bulgaria.

A co-author to 13 devotional and poetry anthologies. Her first solo book "Draw Near: How Painful Experiences Become a Birthplace of Blessings" with Calla Press Publishing was released in 2024. The author of 2 poetry books in Bulgarian.

Her blog onthewaybg.com is on the Top 100 Faith Blogs (spot 19) on the web by Feedspot in 2025.

She is a regular contributor to several faith-based platforms like Devotable, Koinonia, and COMPEL Pro Proverbs 31 Ministries Blog. She has been featured on The Upper Room, (In)Courage, Proverbs 31 Ministries, Her View From Home, Living by Design Ministries, Thoughts About God, Aletheia Today, Today’s Christian Living, The Way Back to Ourselves, and other popular sites and podcasts.

Her message has appeared on over 40 different blogs and publications and over 20 podcasts.