Healing through Suffering\r\nGod has promised to end suffering – Joy\r\n\r\n Tears to Joy\r\n\r\n‘…weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.’ Psalm 30v5\r\n\r\n ‘See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered,\r\nnor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.’ Isaiah 65v17-19\r\n\r\n Our Present Groaning\r\nGroaning to Glory\r\nPresent sufferings v Eternal Glory\r\n\r\n‘For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.’ 2 Corinthians 4v17\r\n\r\n Our Future Glory\r\nLiberated world\r\n\r\n‘You (the children of God) will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you, and all the tress of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper, and instead of the briars the myrtle will grow. This will be the Lord’s renown an everlasting sign, that will endure for ever.’ Isaiah 55v12-13\r\n\r\n Redeemed bodies\r\n\r\n‘The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean…(we will be) enraptured with joys that are forever increasing, and yet forever full.’\r\n\r\n-Jonathan Edwards\r\n\r\nOur Gospel Hope