spiritual growth always comes from suffering

Please go listen to this sermon from cornerstone church here and scroll down and click on "the grace of pain" 2/3/08
He hits the nail on the head. Very eloquently, this pastor sums up my thoughts on the subject of pain/suffering and how a loving God can allow it.
My pastor at my church leaves this subject with the simple idea that God allows free will and we hurt each other. But that doesn't explain things like earthquakes, Job, or babies dying...
No one who thinks long enough can doubt that God allows pain to occur in the lives of people , even his followers (think Job).
And this is where most people get hung up... HOW can a loving God allow this pain?? Why did my house burn down? Why I am sick with cancer? Why is my baby dead?
And we expect God to explain the Why to us. Give us a good reason. Like we deserve an explanation.
But God does not owe us anything. Everything we have from our very breath was handed to us. You worked hard for the job you got laid off from? Who gave you the brains/strength /opportunities to get that job in the first place?
As Job said in Job 2
10 But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

Here is the key-
God never promises us a pain free, comfortable life. Quite the opposite. Over and over the Bible says that we will suffer, especially those who follow Christ.
What we are promised is that God will never leave our side. That we are never alone. And, that
I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us. -Romans 8:18
And the truth is God cares much, much more about the state of our hearts and about his glory than he does about our comfort.
Comfort does not create growth.
I never understood the depth or intensity of God's love before Aquila died. How alive his word was, until i clung to it to keep from drowning. How true his promises were. I had a "peace that surpasses all understanding" .
I experienced JOY , which is only truly experienced inside of suffering- because JOY has nothing to do with happiness. It is a spring that bubbles up strait from God and is not only completely separate from our circumstances- but occurs in spite of them.
If you truly want to know God, if you want to feel him and Know him, know that the road to that is a pinful one- BUT IT IS WORTH EVERY TRIAL. He is worth it.
and remember
"And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”"
Job 1:21