I am Being Perfected 1 Peter 5:10

  "But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you." NKJV
  "In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation." JCB

  Suffering is like labour pains, the agony of bringing a new life into this world. I think of Saul and how he persecuted believers before God struck him blind on the road to Damascus. God gave him a new name, Paul, and restored his sight. How he must have suffered while his blindness lasted. What did he see in the inky blackness? The faces of those he persecuted and murdered? Did his choices haunt him until that fateful miracle moment when his vision was restored? Did he wrestle with the evil he had done?
  Paul's sight was more than physically restored. The spiritual blindness that had driven him to hunt down believers was lifted away the moment Paul knew Jesus was the promised Messiah.
  There he found peace and a purpose cemented in the foundation of God's love.
 
  I had always read this particular scripture with fear but today I see the promise it contains. The eyes of my heart have been opened.
  I don't intend to speak about the journey of all believers, but I've often heard how making a leap of faith by believing in Christ is met with a veil of tears. They fall freely as His Sprit infuses the fabric of our souls. Shame and guilt for past behaviour swoops in when the grace of God fills a heart and mind that was once made of stone.
  But it doesn't hang around very long. Guilt and shame have no place here.
  Yet, this internal suffering is an opportunity to seek forgiveness and be healed by the balm of forgiveness freely given. These revelations allow believers the opportunity to lay shortcomings and errors at the foot of the Cross. Acknowledging our flaws and weaknesses eradicates pride and self-sufficiency because, by doing this, we are running full tilt into the arms of Christ.
  This suffering helps us realize how much we need Him in our lives.
  This suffering for a little while is the labour pain of new life: a rite of passage into grace and glory.