Give it to God

In the essay Aslan the Terrible there are a few reasons given as to why humans suffer and what purpose suffering can serve. One of the reasons listed is because God is showing us the choices we are making are wrong, and hurt and sorrow may be the quickest way for us to see this. The other main reason discussed in this essay is that suffering allows humans to discover their hidden strengths. The example this essay gives is when Shasta runs straight at a lion, weaponless, to protect Aravis and the horses. Now after reading A Horse and His Boy, its very clear that Shasta was a very timid and scared young kid, and this act of bravery that he shows is very surprising, but it just shows that when God allows us to go through difficult times and times of suffering, he is pushing us to be our best and in these times we will even surprise ourself with our ability to step up. But i want to add one more to the list.

I think God allows us to suffer because when we are weak we are forced to lean on him. He wants us to run to Him, and sadly it typically takes something pretty terrible to shake us up before we stop trying to do it on our own. And its when we are weak that we are able to see just how powerful our God truly is. So i believe the main purpose of suffering is to grow us into the people God has made us to be, to run to Him, to develop a stronger faith, to relate to others going through similar situations, and ultimately for God to step in and care for us like He so longs to do if we will just let Him. Sorry for being all preachy, just some stuff i've been learning lately as i try to give up my struggles in life and let God carry them for me.