I wrote this paper for one my classes at Moody, and thought it might interest some of you. Let me know your thoughts.
The Necessity of Suffering
Suffer. No one likes this word. It is the last word that you want brought up in conversation. We replace it with words like; trial, tough-times, and difficulty. No one wants to suffer. I have never heard of anyone waking up in the morning with a strong desire to suffer that day. Suffering means pain, vulnerability and humility; all things that we as humans try to avoid. Growth, growth is a word people love. The idea of progress and good change is something people aim and work towards. People understand the importance of growing and embrace the concept. Growth does not just occur on its own though, popping out of nothing. Growth is a product of something, but not just anything. Growth can only come when there is pain and hardship, growth can only occur through suffering.
Think about movies, books, or even video games. The character in these stories usually grows throughout the story, but its never because they have some happy event happen to them. In order for a character to grow they need pain and trials. Take Finding Nemo for example, Nemo didn’t understand the importance of family and Marlin lived in fear. In order for the family to learn these important lessons they had to go through all sorts of pain and trials. Nemo had to miss his dad immensely in order to understand how grateful he should be for Marlin. And Marlin was forced to be courageous in order to overcome his fear. These characters could not have grown without these events in the movie.
The Bible also supports this concept. James talks about the importance of suffering in his letter, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4). This verse has always reminded me of how we build muscles. In order for muscles to grow stronger, you need to tear them down. Lifting weights, and engaging in strenuous activity causes the muscle tissue to tear. It seems like such an awful thing. But where the muscle tore more muscle will grow, causing the muscle to be stronger than before. Suffering is a testing that causes growth.
I have seen how suffering affects my own life. Three years ago, my brother got into a serious car accident. Chad broke his neck in the accident, causing him to be paralysed from the chest down. It was the hardest thing my family has ever gone through. Suffering is the only word that explains what we went through after that. All of my doubts about God came to the surface. I realized how much I didn’t actually trust God, that I didn’t really believe that He is loving. I had never faced trial, so it was easy to say God was loving and faithful when things were peachy and bright. It was in the dark, depressing nights when I heard my mom screaming in her room at God that I needed to believe that God was faithful and loving. It was through the pain I felt when I saw my father sob over his broken son in the hospital bed that I came face to face with my need for a good God. I would never understand that if I had not faced trial and pain. I would never have grown in that area of my life if I had not suffered.
Stories attest to the need to suffer in order for growth to happen. The Bible supports the importance for pain for our faith to grow. My own story proves that growth does not spring up out of easy times. We cannot grow unless we go through pain. Suffering is a necessity. 
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