Sufferings and Refinement Are God’s Love for Us

Spring was coming. The thunder was rolling and the rain was falling. In the bamboo forest, a cluster of bamboo shoots put out their little heads quietly and tried hard to suck the sweet dew of spring; others lived in a waste earthen house which is opposite to the bamboo forest. They greeted each other and always imagined their future together.

After a few days, the little bamboo shoots grew a bit higher. With the rise in temperature, the bamboo shoots outside yelled continuously, “Too hot! Too hot! We can’t endure it!” Then a fierce storm came. It made them stand unsteadily. The storm beat their delicate bodies. They couldn’t resist shouting: “Ouch! Very painful!” The bamboo shoots in the house heard their voice, saying with a sneer: “Why do you have to suffer like this? Living at ease like us is so much better and more comfortable! We don’t need to be battered by the wind and rain or scorched by the sun.” The bamboo shoots outside answered: “God created us and put us here, which is the need of our lives. Although we’re battered by the wind and rain, and have suffered a lot of trials, such environments make us grow strong.” The bamboo shoots inside laughed in disapproval. After more than a month, the bamboo shoots outside grew higher gradually. They looked green and strong, full of vigor. They rooted deeply and firmly and became much stronger. In the distance, there has been a bamboo forest! But the bamboo shoots in the house were still small, and moreover, they were wizened, yellow, and almost withered.

Only if the bamboo shoots go through the wind and the rain can they be much higher and stronger. Similarly, to gain success, we also need to experience some sufferings and trials.

Everyone will meet all kinds of troubles in their life. Some people encounter difficulties at work; some on the way to achieve dreams; some in marriage, etc. Anyway, in order to grow up, we must go through all kinds of ordeals, failures and troubles. Only those who are indomitable and brave in the adversity can enjoy the happiness of the success.

If we always escape these adversities and want to live in the comfortable circumstance, if we don’t experience these adversities and unhappy situations, we will be defeated by the troubles and failures in our life. And at last we will accomplish nothing just like the bamboo shoots in the house.
Only if we submit, accept and experience these sufferings and trials, and face every trouble bravely, can our will be much stronger and can we adapt to all kinds of circumstances better. They’re also arranged meticulously by God to edify us and make us cling tenaciously to life. It’s just like the Holy Bible says: “The prosperity of fools shall destroy them” (Proverbs 1:32).

However, theoretically many people know that only if we go through these sufferings will our lives be wonderful. But in the real life, no one experiences sufferings willingly, and no one will take the initiative to request God to arrange sufferings for himself. Facing sufferings and trials, we always have many misgivings and worries. In fact, we have so much concerns, which is just because we don’t understand God’s good intention about permitting these sufferings to happen to us.

God’s words say, “God works in every single person, and no matter what His method is, what form His work takes, or what kind of tone His words have, He only has one end goal: saving you. Saving you means transforming you, so how could you not suffer a bit? You’re going to have to suffer. This suffering can involve many things. God raises up the people, matters, and things around you to expose you, to allow you to know yourself, or else He directly deals with you, prunes you, and exposes you. Just like someone on an operating table–you have to undergo some pain for a good outcome. If every time God prunes and deals with you and every time He raises up people, matters, and things, it stirs up your feelings and gives you a boost, then experiencing it this way is correct, and you will have stature and will enter into the reality of the truth” (“To Attain the Truth, You Must Learn From the People, Matters, and Things Around You”).

Practically, the sufferings and trials are God’s love for us and moreover, these are God’s true salvation for us. What God has done is to change us and purify us and the final goal is to save us. Now my understanding is shallow, but in the following life journey, I’m unwilling to worry about God’s trials, and willingly put aside all my misgivings to experience God’s work and to know God’s wondrous deeds.