"You have been called to suffer so that you would experience God's comfort. You have have experienced God's comfort so that you can comfort others. As they receive God's comfort through you, they can bring that comfort to others. Our suffering is not a gap in God's love, as if the Devil crept in while the Lord's head was turned. Peter says it this way, 'Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.' (I P 4.12-13) Suffering does not mean that God's plan has failed. It is the plan. Suffering is a sign that we are in the family of Christ and the army of the kingdom. We suffer because we carry his name. We suffer so that we may know him more deeply and appreciate his grace more fully. We suffer so that we may be part of the good he does in the lives of others."




-Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, p.153.