suffering - a dirty word?

It's the third lap (March) and the third week of internship. The number 3 seems to be a significant word for me at this point. Two prophecies were prayed over me at the leaders' meeting and both implies a kind of "suffering" that I am either going through or will go through in time to come.

A verse prayed over me:

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassing great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

(2 Corinthians 12:7-9)

While 'suffering' is not an unfamiliar theme to me, the knowledge that it will happen does bring some level of fear. How much suffering and to what intensity? I thank God for his grace and his love to encourage me in my weakness. It is not always easy to do what it is right. Many times I fail, I struggle and I want to give up. But God always sustains me and gives me a word at the most unexpected moment, through unexpected means. Or even change my thoughts and feelings about certain things.

Yesterday at the seminar, Shawn said that he has counselled 100 clients over the year and I just thought to myself, "I have 96 more to go!" It has nonetheless been an eye-opening experience for me so far, listening to real people share their struggles and also putting into practice how to help them overcome the struggles. I hope that this will add on to my bag of weapons so that it may be filled as I bring it to the field :)