Suffering Is Never for Nothing

by Elisabeth Elliot

no one participates in God’s joy without first tasting the afflictions of His Son.

I’ve come to see that it’s through the deepest suffering that God has taught me the deepest lessons. And if we’ll trust Him for it, we can come through to the unshakable assurance that He’s in charge. He has a loving purpose. And He can transform something terrible into something wonderful. Suffering is never for nothing.

Joseph was able to say, when he named his son Ephraim, “God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Gen. 41:52 kjv). It’s not the experience that changed him. It was his response. Joseph trusted God.