Does Suffering Have A Purpose?

I wish to share this experience with my fellow Brethren and Sisters:

“Boy rescues a lady from a burning house.”  A fire broke in a grass thatched house in my local village, Uriri.  Many people rushed to the scene and tried to put the fire out.  One man began to shout as he saw an old lady  through the window.  I tried to rush into the burning house.  A few minutes later I hurriedly walked out carrying the old lady.  She was still alive though severely burnt.  I was also badly burnt.

We were rushed to the hospital where we were treated at the Burns Unit.  The old lady ‘Matandarua’ was able to leave hospital earlier than me.  I stayed for almost four months.  I have to carry the scars all my life.  My greatest happiness is that Matandarua was saved. Matandarua visited me in the hospital and the villagers prayed for me.

1 Peter 1:6-8 says: Be glad about this, even though it may be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer.  Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine.  Even gold which can not be destroyed is tested by fire!  And so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested so that it may endure.  Then you will receive glory and praise on the day when Jesus will be revealed (John 15:1-6). From this I came to learn that suffering strengthens our faith in Jesus.  When we suffer, we learn many things about ourselves.  Suffering is then for a good purpose, since we learn to be more patient and to trust in.

Bro. Moses Maleya (Suna, Kenya)