What a Heart Failure Survivor Reveals about Turning Suffering into Service

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After surviving sudden heart failure at just 20 years old, Ainsley Flynn now works at the same hospital that saved her life many years earlier. With hopes of becoming a cardiac ICU nurse, Flynn’s story encourages us to pay attention to the opportunities around us, because you never know when you might be given the chance to save a life.

When Ainsley Flynn contracted the flu in 2024, she thought the cold would pass quickly.

“My whole family had the flu, and everyone was sick on Christmas, including me. I wasn’t feeling great, but I pushed through and was even planning to spend New Year’s with my friends” (People).

As symptoms progressed, however, she suffered from sudden heart failure that left her weary, confused, and downright fearful. Just days after her 20th-birthday (December 28th), Flynn was taken to the emergency room when she started vomiting, losing consciousness, and becoming less responsive. After a long period of treatment and recovery, Flynn says an Impella heart pump, allowed her organ to rest and recover. Today, she works at Allegheny General Hospital as a patient care technician—the same hospital that saved her life. She’s also in her third year as a nursing student at Duquesne University.

As scary and miraculous as Flynn’s story is, it brings up an important question: Can God use our deepest suffering to prepare us for our greatest calling?

God Doesn’t Waste Our Pain

While many stories like Flynn’s exist, what’s unique is that most people have a very narrow view of pain and suffering. It’s the norm to believe that anguish only takes away from us. But in a way, suffering also shapes us.

Let me be clear: God doesn’t choose pain for us. I don’t believe He finds pleasure in suffering. Suffering is a major part of living in a broken and fallen world. But while we would never choose pain, God can and will bring purpose from it. He can even use some of our most difficult seasons to help someone else.

In my favorite Scripture of all time, Romans 8:28, we see that suffering is never good. Things like heart failure, cancer, and trauma aren’t gifts from God. Illness is part of our sinful world. And yet, God still specializes in redemption. God still chooses to bring beauty from the wreckage. God still chooses to use what the enemy meant for evil and turn it for good (Genesis 50:20). And though we’d rather avoid the pain altogether, beautiful ministries can come out of our deepest wounds.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, NIV).

If you don’t want to take my word for it, just look at some of the forefathers of the faith:

• Joseph knew he would eventually rise to power, but he faced pain, rejection, and horror for years before he would gain the prize.
• Naomi endured grave loss, and yet near the end of her story, she was given new life and redemption.
• Paul faced hardship, wreckage, and imprisonment, and yet he was constantly zealous for the Lord.
• Even Jesus endured the cross in love because He trusted the Father’s Plan. What was before Him paled in comparison to what was ahead of Him.  

Joseph eventually saved his family (and an entire nation). Naomi helped Ruth find a new husband. Paul saved many people. Jesus conquered the grave. Seeing these examples won’t make our pain any easier, but it can remind us that we’re not alone. And that’s exactly what Flynn’s story and 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 point towards: