Joy & suffering

Got this from ablogaday and his family on my birthday:

"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day."

~Henri Nouwen

Things were mostly rosy before I reached 30. Sky was blue and life was smooth. In fact, I remember myself as most carefree during ages 20-30. From when I was 30-40, life got tougher and hit obstables more often. Things got tougher still after I turned 40, with a couple of major events marking that segment of my timeline already. Not that I'm suffering anything like people who're under persecution or living in the developing countries. But if the reality of life is only beginning to unfold, then I find help in messages on suffering like this set.

Quoting from Desiring God:

Joy in the Bible is the means by which we’re sustained in suffering and that for which suffering is preparing us. Here’s a litany of verses where joy and suffering are linked:

• Romans 5:3 – we rejoice in our sufferings
  
• James 1:2 – count it all joy when you meet trials
  
• 2 Corinthians 12:9 – gladly boasting in weakness
  
• 2 Corinthians 8:1 – in severe affliction their abundance of joy and supreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of liberality

When God calls us to suffer he is not calling us away from joy but into joy. We need to examine how this works. How are we sustained by joy? How does suffering lead to joy? How does joy shape suffering? God has woven suffering into our lives in such a way that it looks bright and shining to the world around us .... (to read more).