My wild west garden grows more weeds than anything else but I am learning to treasure the time I spend there. Jesus liked to pray in a garden. I  find dull repetitive labor ( such as turning large clumps of dirt & stabbing the weeds with a shovel ) leaves my mind relatively free to ponder & pray. Troubling thoughts of troubled relationships spark my prayer thoughts because one thing I've learned well in my life is to turn to the Lord with problems because He truly is the Great Comforter. Anyhow somewhere I had the wild idea that not only should we expect suffering in our lives, maybe we should be thankful for it? In Romans9:22 Paul asks us this question; "What if God wanting to show His wrath & to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory..." It seems to me there is a great lesson to be learned by the contrast, namely that we might more appreciate our salvation & God.What if somehow by experiencing pain, rejection, & death we are better able to understand & appreciate joy,love,& eternal life.  What if God's gift of a profoundly mentally disabled child (yes, I am talking about Joshua) is meant to teach me more about an incomprehendable complex Creator of All Things, than any other human being? (Except Jesus of course!) Consider the cross; foolish & weak to the world but the power & wisdom of God to those who believe.1 Corinthians 1:24  ( I'm going to thank God for the suffering & the things I learn because of it!)   Love & prayers, in Jesus, Cynthia