As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.“Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,”Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.

-John 9:1-3 (NLT)

When I first read this verse, I was at the lowest point I had ever been in my life. I had just received my bone marrow transplant and I was in the ‘it has to get worse before it gets better’ stage of my recovery. I was lying in a hospital bed with a fever and due to a bacterial infection I was put on ‘isolation’, which meant that I couldn’t leave my hospital room for 10 days. The chemotherapy had just made my hair fall out and I was throwing up anything I tried to eat. Worst of all, I was missing my senior year of high school.

It was at that moment, as I filled with anger and bitterness at what I was going through, that I asked God to give me something. I asked him to give me a sign, a whisper, a dream- anything that would let me know that what I was I going through wasn’t meaningless. An answer to the question that I couldn’t help but ask, ‘why me?’

I did what I had always been taught to do in church when I had questions for God, I opened up my bible and started reading. I flipped to random pages and scanned for a verse that would answer my questions. I continued to do that until I found John 9:1-3. I had to read it a couple of times before I realized that it was what I was looking for.

I’m not sure why this particular verse changed my perspective on the situation so drastically, but those few sentences helped me to alter my way of thinking.

I realized that everything bad that has happened to me wasn’t pointless. It didn’t happen because I was being punished or my family had done something wrong. Everything that I went through happened to me because that was how the power of God was to be seen through me.

By going through hell and coming out on the other side stronger than before, my struggle became a testament of what having faith can do for you. Without the pain and disappointment that I experienced during that difficult time, I wouldn’t have the faith that I do now that no matter what I go through, I’ll be stronger for it.

I know that there are a lot of people who don’t believe in God and don’t believe that things happen for a reason. For those people I would say, maybe you’re right. Maybe there is no point to the miseries we all have to suffer. The truth is that all we really know is what we believe to be true. However, what I believe is that every obstacle, hardship, and tragedy that we face molds us into stronger, kinder, and more understanding people.