Suffering

"Measure your life by loss instead of gain
Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth
For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice
And whosoever suffereth most hath most to give."
Hudson Taylor

When it comes down to it, we really are shaped by what circumstances come our way. If we embrace the trials and tribulations and count it "all joy" when we suffer, it makes it easier to pass on that philosophy of life to others. Why did God make it this way? Why does he instruct us to count it "all joy" when we suffer; when we are disciplined or pruned? Because He knows what He is doing in our lives. He is making a masterpiece. He sees how all the things that He allows into our lives will shape us into the people He designed us to be; created for His pleasure, His kingdom, His glory! He uses things in our lives to make us more Christlike; He humbles us so that we realize that all we REALLY need in life is HIM!