+ We gain victory in suffering by submitting to the Lord’s process within us and taking active steps to develop spiritually. If we do not move forward, we will die. The realities of the old creation order (sin, death, evil and decay) will overwhelm and kill us. It becomes a joy to suffer for Christ only if we know that His glory will be revealed in us and through us.

+ Suffering prepares us for a “better resurrection.” As we participate in the sufferings of Christ, not only is the world invited to repentance from the reality of our loving act, but our spirits also gain a greater ability to bear the Lord’s presence, power, and glory. It is our eternal spirit that will inhabit a glorified body on the Last Day, the time of the resurrection, when unity has been achieved between all things on heaven and on earth. During our time on earth, we “work out” the dimensions of our future glorified body through trials and ordeals.