With Every Hardship Comes Ease

إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا

“Verily, with every hardship comes ease”

                                                         Quran 94:6 

“He promised me ease, yet I cannot find it.” Many of us find ourselves in this place when we go through a pain that seems never ending. We may even come to doubting this promise that Allah (God) has made to us. But rest assured, He never lets us down. 

When and where the ease will come; at the start of every trial, you can attain it whenever you please. And where you’ll get it from is right there too. In your قلب, your heart. I genuinely believe that it's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that makes all of the difference. “Verily, with every difficultly comes ease”. Look at this as two-fold. The difficulties are the externals - the events and the people. And the ease is ultimately your heart. One does not go through a long standing hardship only to find ease waiting at the finish line like some happily ever after. What we were brought here for is to withstand a life of trials and tribulations. To be tested. That doesn’t always mean we’re going to be living in pain constantly, no. But it also doesn’t mean that we only endure one, large hardship only to live the rest of our lives in ease. 

“Everything happens for a reason.” I never believed in that cliche, especially in my deepest darkest moments. But the older I got and the more experiences I endured, the more I started to see the substance it holds. As difficult as it was for me to remember that everything happened for a reason in the middle of a hardship that felt never ending; that felt like I was going to drown in and never come out of - it always passed and the calm after the storm continued to remind me that He truly is the best of all planners.  

This is the way the dunya was built. Perpetual trials and tribulations. The almighty throws these things at you, painful experiences and people and situations only because He knows you’ll endure them, and there’s always a reason. Just think about it. How many situations have you been in where it seemed like the world was against you; where it seemed like that was it; everything was crumbling around you and you felt helpless? And how many of those things passed? How many times have you reflected on those experiences and thought “wow, I got through that and now I’m at a much better place. I thought everything was falling apart only to gain much more valuable and greater things”. It happens and it’s always going to happen for as long as you’re live. Trials and tribulations, He throws at you because He believes in you. Money, power, people - they all come and go but Allah is always by your side. Through every hardship, He’s there. Through every struggle, accomplishment, victory, pain - always, it’s Him. The one and only thing that’s consistent is His belief in you. His forgiveness, His wisdom, His strength. 

In a place that feels unbearable, never ending and painful - always remember that He is there, that everything happens for a reason, and that it wouldn’t be you experiencing it had He not believed that you were capable of overcoming it. 

With love,

AZ