"You didnt think joy could change a person did you? Joy is what you feel when the conflict is over. But its conflict that changes a person." Donald Miller, A Thousand Miles in A Million Years.
Isnt that what Paul talk about in 1 Peter 5:10? He chooses the word "confirm" (NASB), to describe the result of suffering. Is that not what we are all seeking? Confirmation? The greek word from the KJV is sterizo translated from stablish. The meaning is to make stable, place firmly, set fast, fix,to strengthen, make firm, to render constant, confirm, one's mind. Later on his book, Miller records this same gentleman ending his thoughts with this statement, "every conflict, no matter how hard, comes back to bless the protagonist if he will face his fate with courage.". In his book Miller is continuously challenging our will and ability to create "better stories". He is not referring to the stories told by highschool or college students about nights spent puking off a balcony, unless to you that is your better story, but on the contrary, he parallels writting and living in this satement, " But it's like I said before, about writers not really wanting to write. We have to force ourselves to create these scenes. We have to get up off the couch and turn the television off, we have to blow up the inner tubes and head to the river. We have to write the poem and deliver it in person. We have to pull the car off the road and hike to the top of the hill. We have to put on our suits, we have to dance at weddings, we have to make alters.". Where did we become so fearful? Where did I become so fearful? To now bring back 1 Peter, are we scared to suffer for the life we have been called to, and more personally chosen? What are you not doing because of fear? Who are you not forgiving because you think you have tomorrow and bitterness tells you its safer than vulnerability. What ocean have you not jumped in? What person have you not reached? What song have you not written or sung? What sin have you not ran from? Seek to be perfected, established and settled by the Lord through the suffering He Himself endured to receive the "eternal weight in glory."