This is a guest post from Joshua Williams - a proud member of St. Timothy & St. Athanasius church who has guest posted on this blog before.  You can follow him on twitter, @MrRealJosh.  And if you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines for more info.

There is a genuine and real joy in trials. 

Genuine because it is an experience that involves the whole of your being - spirit, soul, and body. It is holistic, not partial. Full, not empty. 

Joy - for the simple fact that there are myriad of gifts ready to be given, to those who endure to the end. There are revelations that He desires to reveal in the depth of your soul. About His Person, about who you are, and about your neighbor. To those who wait on the Lord and have there strength renewed. 

It intensifies the intimacy between you and the bridegroom of your soul.

But many of us fail to discern this. If your eyes were opened to the working of our good God, you will begin to realize, as Father, He desires to continually give. Pour out. Think about it. If the Father of the Beloved has given us His Beloved, to be incarnate, die, rise, and ascend for you and me. 

Then surely the pouring out of the Father has not stopped here! He continues to pour out His Son by the Spirit.

But you say..."the suffering is real!  The pain unbearable.  The trial dark."

But one would be utterly foolish to think that the Lord doesn't care for one who suffers. For He has suffered. His pain unbearable. His trial in the dark garden of Gethsemane. He knows, that it is in trial. In tribulation. In a broken and contrite heart, that our eyes are opened, our spirits humbled, our knees bent, and we are able to draw near to that mountain covered by a thick cloud of darkness. Why? To meet Him Face to Face. To come to the arena of His Glory and the splendor of His Majesty. 

How do you know if you have reached this?  Are you in awe of His Person? And if truly so, has it put you in silence in the presence of the Lord? 

Simple.  If your eyes have not been opened to His Awesomeness, then you are still consumed with the seen.  But there is an unseen reality, revealed by faith and patience.

You see the ultimate aim in suffering is to know Him. Deeply. Intimately. Without limits. He will allow suffering, because your suffering is temporal, whereas your knowing Him is an eternal glory starting here. In this vapor of a life. 

Suffering is a beautiful thing in the Hands that were pierced for us. Pierced for me. The hands that fashioned my soul and that designed the waters. The hands that have inscribed us in the palm of his Hands. The same hands are on the cross wide opened with the stripes drenched with blood. With the face bruised, the eyes that once looked with compassion on the multitudes, that once fed a people who now cry, 'crucify Him!.’With the feet that proclaimed the gospel of peace. And now are nailed to a cross.

The reality of suffering. Of trial. Of tribulation. Is hopeless. Morbid. Depressing. Sad. Painful. Unfair.  And the end is Death.

But In Christ... Oh! In the One who has changed every idea and understanding of what it means to be human!  In the one who can sympathize with you. It takes on a wholly, entirely, different, unique experience. No longer is suffering a means of sadness, but joy!

No longer a road to death, but life! No longer a sorrowful painful experience, but one filled with new songs of praise and exultation! For death in Christ has become the beginning of Resurrection. For without it, how shall one begin to experience the life beyond the tomb.

The difference between in Christ, and out of Christ, will define your experience of human suffering. In Him, it takes no different appearance from the exterior. There is still the same intensity of emotion. The same cry of a child. But from the interior we enter into the kingdom, and i dare to say, we see Him, face to face, as King, the beloved, the Friend, and the Bridegroom of our soul.

Don't give up. This is for your good. 

“What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”  John 13:7

Believe Him. For as gold is refined seven times, so He proclaims, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”  Revelation 21:5