Suffering comes to everyone one way or another. Some have it harder than others. Sometimes our circumstances are blamed unfairly. But at the end of the day God has allowed us to be, like Job, in a difficult situation. Unless we suffer, many of us as humans seem unable to draw really close to God. It is in suffering that we find our total dependence on our Creator.
There are three books I can highly recommend you read on the subject of suffering. A Path of Suffering, by Elizabeth Elliot. Trusting God even when Life Hurts, by Jerry Bridges, and Tragedy to Triumph, A Christian Response to Trials and Suffering by Frank Retief. Elizabeth Elliot as we know lost her husband in the missionary context. Jerry Bridges lost his mother as a boy, Frank Retief was pastoring a church that faced a mass massacre in South Africa near the end of apartheid (my sister was there on the night it happened.) These authors all know what suffering is about as they write and yet they all love and trust our Lord dearly.
These books are well worth the effort of tracking them down and spending money on, they will change your life and encourage you! Koorong for you Ozzies has the first two and Amazon UK and USA has the latter second hand and very cheap, it is out of print.
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