From an early age, our society, through the media, has programmed many of us to embrace one of the big commandments of the world, which states: “Don’t make me suffer.”  That is, everything in life should be comfortable, luxurious and pleasurable for oneself, family and friends.  It’s that thought and feeling of being on a beach hammock in Hawaii with a tropical drink in our hand. 

Well, that is not the reality of life in this world, which will always include some suffering.  We must expect the sufferings and hardships that occur at almost every turn in our life.  If we continually say YES to the Lord, He will give us the courage, strength and graces to carry these crosses, which, in turn, will allow us to receive the glory that He wishes for us to take into the Kingdom to unite with His glory.  If we carry them unwillingly, then we create an extra burden for ourselves; besides we have to carry them anyway.

Suffering has many faces, and includes among them: physical pain, mental anxiety, tragedies, humiliations, disappointments, betrayals, rejections, unwilling enslavements, and emotional issues that ride roughshod over our life.  These are our crosses to carry many times during our life. 

Since we know that life will include suffering, God prepares us by giving us smaller sufferings early in our life so that we can handle the bigger sufferings that occur later.  God loves us so much that He prepares us for those later sufferings that we will experience in our lives.

What does our suffering accomplish?  God always brings a greater good out of our suffering for Him.  What is that good?  Probably, we won’t know in this life, but I bet some of it is associated with our families, and especially for those who don’t know the Lord. It might even be people that we offered up any suffering for during our time on earth.  We must believe that we are being a powerhouse with our suffering, allowing God to cause miracles to happen wherever needed in our family, friends, church, country and world.