I am John, your brother. I share your suffering, ruling, and endurance because of Jesus. I was exiled on the island of Patmos because of God’s word and the testimony about Jesus.
Revelation 1:9
According to this verse, believers have three things in common: suffering, ruling, and endurance. As a God Girl you shouldn’t be surprised when you suffer and have to endure it. It’s what we all do. It’s such a joke to think that your life was meant to be perfect, to be all comfortable and happy. Happiness isn’t the goal of faith. It may be a symptom but it’s not the goal—not that faith is meant to be miserable either, but you shouldn’t be so shocked when bad things happen. It’s been that way for centuries. Suffering is a constant, so it is a continual duty of the God Girl to suffer. But you are to suffer not as a nonbeliever but as a believer, with the confidence that suffering produces something holy within you. That suffering should never be in vain but should be used for good, for character building, for strength, for perseverance, and for the development of trust.
Don’t let the presence of suffering in your life convince you that something is wrong. That isn’t always the case. Sometimes you suffer because of your own sin, and rather than hate the suffering, you must address the cause. Use the symptom of suffering as a signal that you must change what you are doing, and thank God for the redirecting power of suffering. Sometimes suffering comes at the hands of another. But this is just an opportunity to trust that God will do what he says and work it all out for your good (see Rom. 8:28). Don’t allow the rough parts of life to convince you that God is absent when they ought to convince you that he is present—shaping you, guiding you, purifying you. Never let the opportunity of suffering go unused. Instead let it do its work within you so that you will be mature and complete, not lacking anything (see James 1:2–4).