A Special Privilege

Sometimes I read certain blogposts, and then I read them again and again. This one I want to share with you today is written by Andree Seu, my favorite columnist, who writes for World Magazine. This blogpost is about suffering, and refers to a book (Roses in December) that I read a couple of years ago written by Marilyn Heavilin. Seu writes:

"I’ll never forget meeting Marilyn Heavilin.... Her son Jimmy died of crib death at 7 weeks old in 1964. Her son Ethan died of pneumonia at a year old in 1966. Her son Nathan died when struck by a drunk driver at age 17 in 1983. Friends and family said the usual things one says in inept consolation of the unconsolable. Then a man from India appeared at her door, and when she opened it, he looked her in the eye and said, “What a privilege to meet a person whom God has entrusted with so much suffering.” That, finally, was helpful."

Have we been entrusted by God with suffering? Maybe it would help us to think of our trials, at least in some sense, as a special privilege. This is a concept worth considering.