Earlier this summer, I wrote an article about becoming a mosaic. I described how God was breaking me through my life circumstance and how I had hope beyond human understanding that God was making me into something beautiful. Now, I have some great news: He did. And He’s even blessing me more than I could have ever imagined through friends and college.

However, that’s not the formula of life for Christians. We don’t suffer and then get blessed. Sometimes we do, like when the Devil took everything from Job and although Job got angry, he never cursed God, so when the Devil left him, God blessed him with more than he had ever had. But that life of blessing, which looks suspiciously like luck to those who don’t believe in my Jesus, is not the norm. In fact, it’s not even the promise.

In the Bible, Christians are promised to undergo the same persecution Jesus suffered, which includes death. To many, that might sound horrible, but I have mind-blowing news for you: it’s okay. Why? The promise of suffering is okay because I have another promise that also surpasses human understanding: God promised to always be with me. The One who created every star we see, who flooded the earth and made mountains and smiled with delight when we thought of light bulbs and plumbing, who designed me intimately and completely in my mother’s womb, who wrote my name on the palm of His hand, is always with me. Although I might not gain physical wealth like Job and I might suffer my entire life, the promise of His presence is more powerful than all else. What is better than having God with me? He promises to take care of me like how He clothes the lilies of the field and the feeds the birds in the sky. And not only am I promised His presence and provision, I am also promised hope in the future.

Hope for the future does not mean wealth. It does not mean that I will be popular, or extraordinarily beautiful, or brilliant, or rich, or content. It does not mean my family will stay healthy nor will I not worry nor will my dog live forever. The hope I have is more than anything in this world can give me: Heaven.

I get Heaven. If I walk through this life with everything I have ever asked for and die peacefully in my sleep at the great old age of 93, I will go to Heaven. If I settle into dangerous mission work in Africa and die at the hands of an angry mob at the age of 21, I will go to Heaven. In the good times and in the bad times, that is one of the richest, greatest promises given to me in a Word that is unshakeable by a God who does not change.

Am I being blessed now, which makes this article easier to write? Yes. I have gotten to spend time with dear friends, go on adventures, watch new movies, move into a great dorm, and many other fantastic experiences that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Will it always be like this? No. I am promised persecution. It is not a fun promise; Jesus didn’t enjoy it either. However, the results of that promise are worth whatever pain I suffer. Being made to look more like Jesus is always worth it.