Douglas F. Kelly on Suffering for the Lord

Kelly writes,

[S]uffering for the Lord in his service brings a new revelation of who God really is. I have said that the thing that characterizes health is knowing God through the Bible -- Genesis to Revelation. If this Bible is true, the most important question in the world is who God really is (v. 3). Now there are certain things about God which you can only learn experientially in the fire, and this reality goes with you when you come out of the fire. There is a saying in French that, when you translate it into English, goes something like this: 'To suffer, passes. To have suffered, never passes.' What you learn about the Lord in the fire goes with you blessedly long after you have left the fire. Some tests he may not call you through again in this whole earthly pilgrimage, but the effects go with you.

New Life in the Wasteland: 2 Corinthians on the Cost and Glory of Christian Ministry. Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2003. p. 26.