Comfort in Affliction

Hello everyone,

In this blog post I am sharing my story and why I decided to start a blog. First of all, hello! My name is Hannah Stewart, and I am a young(ish) adult living in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, USA. I have many hobbies that include painting, woodcarving, animal care, and gardening.

Before I continue…

I want to give some forewarning that one of the topics I will be discussing is depression and suicidal thoughts. Feel free to skip that section if you need to. It will mainly be in the section titled “Anxiety and Depression.” If this is something that you are struggling with, I pray that you will find the mental, medical, and spiritual resources to get you through it. As long as there is breath in our lungs, there is hope. ❤

Throughout this post I have attached links to an online Bible (https://www.biblegateway.com/) where you can read each passage mentioned. Just hover your mouse over the reference and click to open the Scripture webpage, or on mobile devices tap the reference with your finger to open the Scripture webpage.

So, why write a blog?

Over the past ten or so years I have been through, and am continuing to go through, some difficult circumstances. My hope is that other people can be helped and comforted by me sharing my story and what I have learned. The theme for this blog is 2 Corinthians 1:3-5:

“³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ”. ¹

My Story

When I think about the most difficult circumstances I have experienced, two examples come to mind. The first is my battle with Major Depressive Disorder and anxiety, and the second is the past three years of unexplained health problems and chronic pain.

Anxiety and Depression

Anxiety has been a part of my life as long as I can remember, but depression was new. It started in my last year of high school as just feeling a bit down, and the first suicidal thoughts came around the age of 19.

It was not until my first year of college out of state at the age of 20 that I came close to attempting suicide. I actually went outside one evening with that intention, but that night God protected me. I could feel Him steering me to safety and shielding me from danger. He brought me back to my dorm room physically unharmed, though mentally scared of what I had come so close to doing.

In the morning I spoke with my dorm supervisor, and it was decided that for my health and safety I needed to go to the hospital. There I was admitted to the psychiatric ward and received medication to stabilize my brain and had space from the stress of college. When I was discharged, it was with the expectation that I would return to college and drop at least one class and the part time job I had on campus. That lightened the load a bit, but I felt so alone. The counselor on campus only met with me once and never had time to do so again. No one I knew, at college or at home, had experienced this or knew how to help me.

At the end of the semester, I packed up my things and went home, never finishing the degree I started. At home, I met with a counselor and a doctor regularly who both slowly helped me get to a stable place mentally. It took four long years, but eventually depression became a fleeting cloud compared to the all-consuming fog it had been.

Chronic Pain and Illness

More recently the battle has been with my physical health. In 2022 I began experiencing pelvic pain that at the time I attributed to my menstrual cycle. At about the same time, I ended up in the Emergency Room with severe stomach cramps. With medication and an IV the cramps lessened, so I was discharged with instructions to eat a simple diet to let my stomach recover. Over the following weeks though the stomach pain continued, and after seeking advice I reduced my diet down to low acid, dairy free, and gluten free foods. After many months of this diet the stomach symptoms improved, but I began getting sick with viruses almost every month.

In December of 2023 I began experiencing more pain in my pelvis and other joints, as well as extreme fatigue, and I had to stop working in order to rest and have the strength to see a doctor in order to try to figure out what was going on.

In May of 2024 I finally received the diagnosis of Hashimoto’s (Hypoactive thyroid) and started on medication for it. This resolved the fatigue and enabled me to work again, but it did not provide answers as to the source of my joint pain. The doctors I had at the time were unable to help me, so I began looking up possible conditions online. It took hours and weeks, but I eventually had some ideas of what could be going on and a direction to go: Rheumatology.

In March of 2025 I met with a rheumatologist and received the diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis. (If you do not know what this is, that’s okay; it is a form of autoimmune arthritis that affects the joints in your spine and pelvis. They get inflamed, cause pain, and your body tries to fix it by fusing the affected joints). To treat it, we tried one medication, and when that did not work, we tried another. By November of 2025 it was clear that neither medication was successful in slowing the progression of the condition.

Over Christmas of 2025 I realized that my condition was getting worse, and that I needed to make some significant changes to how I was living. I made the difficult decision to leave the nannying job I loved but could no longer physically handle. I also started the process of getting a custom wheelchair, and began using a borrowed rollator and wheelchair in the meantime.

As of April 2026, I have my custom wheelchair and am on a third medication to treat the AS. Life looks very different for me now than it did three years ago. I have gone from being able to go on mountain hikes and long road trips to now needing a wheelchair to go grocery shopping and relying on heating pads or ice packs to get any sleep at night. But I can honestly say that my experience of trusting God in the midst of depression set the foundation of my faith that has sustained me in the midst of my current battle.

The lessons

Ultimately, I have learned that my daily strength does not actually come from me (Isaiah 40:29-31), but from the One who made me and planned my days in advance (Psalm 139:13-16). He is always in control (Proverbs 16:9, Ephesians 3:20-21), and He continues to have a good purpose for my life (Romans 8:28), especially for the painful parts (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). I have also learned that God is always with me (Psalm 23, Psalm 40), no matter how alone I feel.

In the various struggles that I have faced, there have been many times that I have felt alone. With depression it was feeling that my family was better off without me, and that life itself was too much for me to handle. God felt distant, and maybe even powerless. It took months and years of medication, therapy, and Biblical counseling to understand that what I am feeling in the moment does not change the fact that God is powerful and always with me (Psalm 139) no matter what I am feeling, and that life is worth living.

In the past three years dealing with chronic pain and other health issues, I have been struggling to get out of the house. I have missed church, family reunions, holiday get-togethers, and other events, leading to me feeling left out and lonely. I have had to be intentional with seeking community and pursuing friendships. Initially I kept my health struggles to myself; I assumed that no one wanted to hear bad news.

What I came to realize over time was that if I did not tell anyone what was going on, then the people who knew me would have no idea that I needed help. By withholding my needs and struggles, I was limiting what others could do in my life. But praise God! He has placed people in my life who challenged me to be open about my struggles, and it has been a blessing to see how God has used my openess to impact others for good. He has provided me with a loving and supportive family, friends who I can confide in, and a church community that has supported and prayed for me through it all.

The goal

In light of all of this, my goal in writing this blog is to take what I have experienced and learned and use it to help other people find hope in God and His Word. I challenge you, if you are struggling with something, to reach out to at least one person and be open about your situation. You never know how God may use your vulnerability to help you and others.