Notes from a source I am not sure where they came from....not trying to plagiarize....

Often the most intense pleasure comes after prolonged struggle.

"When you have no experience of pain, it is rather hard to experience joy."--George Wald

We moderns, in our comfort-controlled environment, have a tendency to blame our unhappiness on pain, which we identify as the great enemy...Pain is a part of seamless fabric of sensations, and often a necessary prelude to pleasure and fulfillment.  The key to happiness lies not so much avoiding pain at all costs as in understanding its role as a protective warning system and harnessing it to work on your behalf, not against you.

When something bad happens, I try to view that occurrence as I would view physical pain.  I accept it as a signal alerting me to attend to a matter that needs change.

Christianity offers the further insight that true fulfillment comes not through ego satisfaction, but through service to others.

These larger than life heroes (celebrities) seem tormented by incurable self-doubt.

The deepest level of pain/pleasure association in life, is that of sacrificial service.

Happiness will come upon me unexpectedly as a by-product, a surprising bonus for something I have invested myself in.  And most likely, that investment will include pain.  It is hard to imagine pleasure without it.

Why the caprice of some lives dominated by arthritis, cancer or birth defects, while others escape un-afflicted for 7 decades?

This planet emits a constant "groaning", a cry of redemption and restoration, but very often we ignore the message until suffering or death forces us to attend.

Suffering offers a general message of warning to all humanity that something is wrong with this planet, and that we need radical outside intervention.  But you cannot argue backward and link someone's specific pain to a direct act of God.

John 9--So why was the man born blind?  "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."

In every case, suffering offers an opportunity for us to display God's work.

God does not "keep" his people.  He loves us, gives himself to us, and eagerly awaits our free response.

God wants us to choose to love Him freely, even when that choice involves pain, because we are committed to Him, not to our own good feelings and rewards.

Job did not seek that Giver because of His gifts were removed he still sought the Giver.

We are not put on this earth merely to satisfy our desires to "pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."  we are here to be changed, to be made more like God in order to prepare us for a lifetime with Him.

Suffering produces something.  It has value; it changes us.

The Bible aims the spotlight on the end result, the productive use God can make of suffering in our lives.  To achieve that result, however, he first needs our commitment of trust, and the process of giving him that commitment can be described as rejoicing.

Romans 5:3-5--"We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope."

We rejoice not in the fact that we are suffering, but in our confidence that the pain can be transformed.  The pain need not be meaningless....

We can safely say God can bring good out of evil; we cannot say that God brings about the evil in hopes of producing good.

C.S. Lewis:  "We're not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."