A Path Through Suffering

Over the past 13 months or so I have been learning what it means to trust God regardless of how difficult my circumstances are. We lost our daughter Bridget to miscarriage in March of last year and spent the rest of the year dealing with hard financial times. Just last Friday we had a scare with our current pregnancy when I began to bleed. I was placed on bed rest after the ultrasound showed a good heartbeat on our baby, but the bleeding was still heavy. Over the last week I have been able to get a lot of reading done. Just Wednesday I finished Elisabeth Elliot's book A Path Through Suffering: discovering the relationship between God's mercy and our pain. This book has been so helpful in seeing God's love despite my circumstances and learning to apply the following quote from the book: "Our circumstances are not the window through which we understand His love, but rather we must view our circumstances through His love." God's redemptive work in our lives is shown in how He takes death and produces life. God is continually producing fruit and new life from the little (and sometimes not so little) deaths in our lives. I love what Elisabeth Elliot says on page 133 of her book, "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Creator calls a butterfly." What a beautiful picture of how an eternal perspective can change how we see our circumstances. In view of eternity we can say with the apostle Paul, "For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
The appendix to the book give a list of Scriptural reasons for suffering, following fair use laws I reproduce them here:

First, we suffer for our own sake:
that we may learn who God is Ps 46:1, 10; Dn 4:24-37; the Book of Job
that we may learn to trust 2 Cor 1:8-9
that we may learn to obey Ps 119:67, 71
discipline is proof of the Father's
love and of the validity of our
sonship Heb 12:5-11
it is the condition of discipleship Acts 14:22; Lk 14:26-27, 33
it is required of soldiers 2 Tm 2:4
we are being "pruned that we may
bear fruit Jn 15:2
that we may be shaped to the image
of Christ Rom 8:29
to qualify us to be fellow-heirs
with Christ Rom 8:17
to qualify us for the kingdom of God 2 Thes 1:4-5
to qualify us to reign with Christ 2 Tm 2:12
that our faith may be strengthened Jas 1:3; 2 Thes 1:4-5; Acts 14:22
that faith may be tested and refined Is 43:2; Dn 11:35; Mal 3:2; 1 Cor 3:13;
1 Pt 1:7
that we may reach spiritual maturity Jas 1:4
power comes to its full strength in
weakness 2 Cor 12:9
to produce in us endurance, character,
hope Rom 5:3-4
to produce in us joy and generosity 2 Cor 8:2

Second, we suffer for the sake of God's people:
that they may obtain salvation 2 Tm 2:10
to give them courage Phil 1:14
that because of death working in us,
life may work in them 2 Cor 4:12; Gal 4:13; 1 Jn 3:16
that grace may extend to more 2 Cor 4:15
that our generosity may bless others 2 Cor 8:2

Third, we suffer for the world's sake:
that it may be shown what love and
obedience mean the Book of Job; Jn 14:31; Mt 27:40-43
that the life of Jesus may be visible
in ordinary human flesh 2 Cor 4:10

Fourth, we suffer for Christ's sake:
that we may be identified with Him
in His crucifixion Gal 2:20
suffering is the corollary of faith Ps 44:22; Acts 9:16 and 14:22; 2 Tm 3:12;
Jn 15:18-21; 1 Thes 1:6 and 3:4
that we may share His suffering 1 Pt 4:12-13; Phil 1:29, 2:17 and 3:8, 10;
Col 1:24; 2 Tm 1:8; Heb 13:13
that we may share His glory Rom 8:17-18; Heb 2:9-10; 2 Cor 4:17.

I pray this blesses others dealing with difficult circumstances. To God be the glory.