Hi Elleise,
I grant you, a headache or a bad day at work will "run its course." I am all for taking action to minimize such suffering. Take an aspirin, have a talk with your boss, whatever.
For followers of Jesus, suffering has profound meaning. And here I mean suffering that cannot be relieved by action on my part, whether it be meditation, medication, or any of my best efforts at finding relief. I am a child of an omnipotent God, who can, if He wishes, relieve my suffering in any number of ways. But He often does not. At this point some might think that Christians should "mourn in silence and learn to bear a cross," but that's not it at all. (For one thing, the 'bearing a cross' command has nothing to do with suffering in silent resignation, and everything to do with counting the cost, and choosing to follow Christ though it may lead to persecution and death--the cross was an instrument of execution, remember.) No, the situation is that when I experience suffering from which I can't get relief, I am then in a place where my Creator can refine me, teach me, make me a more useful instrument for His purposes. I may learn endurance, compassion, patience, selflessness, contentment. If these characteristics are not prominent in my natural make up, I need to learn them one way or another. Suffering is an amazingly effective teacher.
The truth is, external change is likely not going to happen for many people who are suffering. If your child dies, he'll stay dead. If you've been in an accident and become paralyzed, you probably can't change that. You can't fix your mom getting Alzheimer's or losing your home or being raped. The cause of your suffering can't be removed in these cases. The effect of the suffering on your character is what is important.
Give in to bitterness and hopelessness, or allow God to transform your spirit. Give up on life and joy, or be open to Him creating glory from your tragedy. It happens all the time when God's children lay their heartbreaks at His feet. And God is preparing His children for eternity. This bit here is not the main event, thank God. Though there is much joy in my life, and much beauty all around us, the world is not as it is meant to be, and I have a sure and certain hope for a perfectly joyful, perfectly beautiful future where child and mother and mobility will be restored to those who have lost them, where I will live in peace and have deeply satisfying and meaningful work to do, and suffering will not exist at all. The purpose of my suffering here is to make me able to share this hope effectively with those in need of it, those suffering without hope and without Jesus. I'm completely willing to endure whatever my Savior deems necessary to make me fit for this work.
