Suffering often has a purpose

Book of Common Prayer (1928)

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Source: http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/oe/pater_noster.html

The Lord God Almighty, I thank you for the opportunity to worship you and praise your name, for it is holy and sacred. My bible reading today was very enlightening. I have learnt that, when he healed a blind man, Jesus rejected the idea that physical defects were necessarily a consequence of sin.

According to the Readers' Direct Illustrated Edition of the Bible 1990:769, He suggested, that suffering often had a purpose; the man's blindness, for example, led to his meeting with Jesus and his subsequent conversion to the Christian faith.

I agree that today I worship God more than ever before because of suffering;

• because of being orphaned,
• because of being lonely in the face of great challenges;
• because of being helpless;
• because noone could help me;
• because Satan was harassing me
• because the Lord Jesus Christ gave me the gift of realisation
• because God kindly gave me the Holy Spirit to care for me

Amen