Hi Hank, Oh yes, absolutely gain in affliction and any unwanted difficult things in life.

As I have shared extensively here on the blog, we all walk through many fires here in this life and for me, these trials have driven me right into the hands of Almighty God.

Were I well, healthy, fit, pain and trial free, etc., I wouldn't have needed to seek His comfort, peace and understanding in this way.

Spiritually before I became so ill, I was seeking that which could permanently fill the needs of my soul and of course tried everything but the one and only thing able to do that, an intimate relationship with our living God. Now that has proven to be the gain that far outweighs anything!!

My post you are responding to where I shared we need to recognize our circumstances as a loss, is a good tool that therapists use to help clients identify/articulate why they are struggling/feeling the way they do. Once that is achieved, they /we can begin the healing process including looking at things in a different perspective including the gains our circumstances bring to our lives.

I had never heard that we should honor our pain, emotional or otherwise . So many feel guilt over it/them, and can't move on.

These perspectives are each pieces of the whole that all must be taken into account to move forward.

Hope that clarifies where I was coming from in the post you replied to.

Have a lovely day, Sunnyflower