Delight in hardships?

I am excited to see our baby boy turn one and yet I am also burdened about his delayed development and the health issues he still has to face. Turning one is quite a milestone, but most babies are sitting up, crawling, pulling up and talking by their first birthday. Most days I do not stress over these things, but as time goes on and Graham continues to make little progress, and when milestones like first birthdays roll around, I cannot help but ponder these things. 

I know and believe all the verses in the Bible about suffering. Romans 8:28 says that God works all things for the good of those who love him. I know that God is sovereign and nothing happens in this life that He doesn’t cause or allow (1 Chron. 29:11, Is. 44:6-8). I know that suffering is a direct result of sin, a fallen broken world. That suffering points us to Christ and makes our hearts long for His return. That people face trials so God’s glory may be seen (John 9:3). I know that suffering builds my faith (1 Peter 1:6-7). The one scripture on suffering and trials that I am wrestling with is 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I believe that God’s grace is sufficient for me. My issue here is “more gladly” and “delight”.  Delight? Are you serious, Paul? Paul knew suffering well so it is no small thing for him to say this. I can accept hardship from God (Job 2:10, Ecc. 7:13-14) and I can recognize it will turn out for my “good,” even God’s definition of good… but I am having trouble delighting in it. 

There is a wonderful, faithful woman that I know from church that has gone through a separation and divorce while pregnant with their second child. Now her husband has returned to the Lord and they are dating again. To God be the Glory. She has said that she is glad that she went through that because of the strengthening of her relationship with the Lord. Wow.

Well, I guess the Lord still has some things to teach me because I struggle with being glad that Graham was born with a heart condition, that we almost lost him at 7 weeks old, that had surgery at 5.5 months, that he also has a spine issue requiring surgery, and that he is so behind developmentally. Perhaps I get a bye because it is actually my child who is enduring the suffering and it feels wrong to delight in another’s suffering? Or perhaps it is difficult to delight in the midst of the trial, and on the other side I will be able to look back and be glad? I once read an incredible word by John Piper titled "Don't waste your cancer". I pray that I will not waste these hardships. Would you join me in praying that Matt and I would pursue the Lord and His Word and opportunities to glorify Him during this hardship, so that one day I might learn to delight in hardship?

I do know that the Lord has been very near to us since Graham’s birth, that I pray now more than ever before, that God’s Word is precious to me, that I tear up every Sunday during praise and worship because the words seem so much more real. I do delight in those things. I pray that I will learn whatever the Lord is trying to teach me. I pray that one day Graham will look back on all that the Lord has done for him and he will give his life to the Lord. I pray for others who know much worse suffering than I. I pray for the Lord’s return so that there will be no more tears and no more pain. Come Lord Jesus, come.