The purpose of this study was to understand and describe the concept of spirituality and the influence of spirituality to cope with suffering in patients with chronic illness. A qualitative study was performed based on Colaizzi's steps of phenomenological analysis. The results revealed 3 themes in the concept of spirituality: 1) connectedness with God(religiosity, spiritual gift), 2)power to change(power to overcome, power to be healed), 3)personality revealed in everyday life(love, harmonious relationship, service to others). And 4 themes emerged in the influence of spirituality in coping with their illness: 1) strangeness, shock(spiritual, psychological, physical), 2)meaning finding('time indispensible to me', a fight not to lose), 3)relationship restored(with God, with men), 4)transcendence(leave everything to God, enlarging boundary). The findings suggest that spirituality plays an important role in coping with patients' illness and the implication of the findings were discussed relating to medical social work practice.