God refines us in our suffering and graciously explains why: “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this” (Isaiah 48:10). For emphasis, God repeats the reason.

Joni Eareckson Tada says, “Suffering is meant to press us up against Jesus. It’s not so much about us...it’s about how I can hear His heartbeat and identify with Him in His sufferings.” And, “My paralysis is about knowing Jesus better.”

God’s main concern is conforming His children to the image of Christ. And He works through the chal­lenging circumstances of our lives to help develop that Christlikeness in us. We can be assured that whatever difficulty He has allowed in our lives has been Father-filtered, through His fingers of wisdom and love.

The fact that we really don’t know what Paul’s thorn was turns out to be both merciful and instructive to us. It’s merciful because, given the various possibilities, we all can identify with Paul to some degree in our afflictions. It’s instructive because what Paul’s thorn was isn’t the point. The point is what God’s purpose was for the thorn.

Some Christians constantly assign this mishap to Satan, that one to evil people, another to themselves, still others to God. Sometimes they are right, but how can they be sure which is which? Second Corinthians 12 makes clear that God works through everything that comes our way, no matter whom it comes from. 

Randy Alcorn talks about why he does what he does, speaking to a group of CEO's (both secular and Christian).

Fold a paper in half. Then write on the top half the worst things that have happened to you and on the bottom half the best.

Doug Gabbert, my friend and an elder at our church, shared the following, by John Piper. It is biblical, God-honoring and powerfully written.

I’m posting a series of blogs from an excellent interview with Os Guinness titled “Rediscovering ‘Calling’ Will Revitalize Church and Society.” (Check out part 1 if you missed it.) In this excerpt, Os talks about his book The Call, which I highly recommend.