Romans 5:3-4
That’s not all. We also celebrate in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patience, patience produces a well-formed character, and a character like that produces hope.
Suffering chisels off our rough edges which we have allowed to grow through our self-seeking, through going our own way.
These rough edges mar and distort the image of God in all of us, the image we were created to reflect through the purest, most intimate relationship.
That perfect image and pure relationship, which was horrendously damaged, has been restored by God, through the death of Jesus on the cross in our history. This act of cosmic reconciliation was initiated by God, and has been offered up for our grateful acceptance as well as the generous opportunity to become fully what we were always meant to be.
Do you believe this?
Will you accept this?
Are you going to act upon this, allowing God to chisel away what does not look like Him?