When Stephen was killed, the church deeply mourned. The persecution got intense. Saul (Paul) went on a crusade against Christians putting them into prison. Why did bad things like this happen to them? Why do bad things happen to us? Why does God allow suffering? When we are faced with suffering, God calls us to mourn, lament, complain, and pray our tears to him, instead of repressing them. But, at the same time, we need to realize that just as God didn't cause the suffering of the church here, God didn't cause our suffering.

Nonetheless, God used their suffering to do something good; they brought joy to the Samaritans, a people group they may never have witnessed to without the suffering. In the same way, God is so big that he can use our suffering to do something good. Now, this something good is not always about us. It is often about others, bringing joy to others. When we make everything about ourselves, we are often not able to go beyond our despair. We have to allow the gospel to meet our needs so that we can be free to be for others.