Highlight Verse:

“Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

When I was a senior in high school, I was the yearbook photographer. I’ve always enjoyed photography and already had a portfolio of landscape photos .

I lost my afterschool job because I spent the summer with my dad out of state.

My parents always provided food, but I wanted to be able to buy hot school lunches. I could no longer afford them, so I started printing and selling landscape photos to teachers and others for lunch money.

The principal got wind of my entrepreneurial enterprise and took it upon himself to sign me up for free lunches.

I appreciated his compassion for me, but I felt cheated out an experience.

Obviously, I cannot compare my hunger for school lunches to the suffering Jesus went through, but I think we miss out on something if we manage to avoid all suffering.

There have been plenty of other moments of suffering in my life that were far more significant than missing hot lunches.

Though none were as serious as what Jesus suffered, each brought a little more strength and wisdom to my life.

Suffering is never fun, but sometimes it can be good.

What lessons have you learned from suffering?
Where do you draw the line when deciding to protect your loved ones from suffering?