Mark 8:31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 

In these verses, Jesus expects suffering, but he also looks forward to resurrection. We are often discouraged as we look around and see so much suffering in the world. We have come to anticipate sorrow and sometimes even to dread the advent of another day. After losing my twenty-year-old brother to cancer and my dad to a car wreck, it is easy to expect suffering.  I know life can be full of misery. The shooting death of my friend on the mission field didn’t help matters.

But suffering is not the end of the story. God always brings resurrection. As God is healing my heart, I am learning to trust resurrection—not only after death, but also resurrection of my spirit and healing here on earth. Though my husband has been diagnosed with cancer, God has made him cancer-free. Though my ninety-year-old mom caught COVID-19, and I was planning her funeral, God has made her whole. Suffering is always a possibility, but resurrection is a certainty.