by Ryan Schreiber

Created on: November 16, 2008   Last Updated: January 03, 2009

To suffer. The very word brings back such an overwhelming amount of thought and emotion. And I will tell you now, any man or woman in this world that has the ability to humble themselves, in accordance with knowledge and understanding, has suffered in some way, shape, or form. For the sufferings that we face in this present life can either "make or break" us. And, yes of coarse, this was the will of the Lord, that is, that we among the elect have an exhaustive period of tribulation; an age of suffering and distress...

I suffer to this day because of my past, for I bear the reproach of my youth. And I cannot regret the choices that have brought me thus far. For this is how we, as human beings, learn from our ways. It would seem, in this case, that life has a sense of humor. For one simply cannot put "life" in a textbook and expect to learn from it. The path that I found myself walking was a troublesome one indeed; For I found myself walking alone. And many choices would confront me. For to this day some of the choices still haunt me, for I bear the reproach of my youth...

Now let your mind carry you to the visions of testimony among the mind and soul of One who has felt the likes of dismay and despair. For His Spirit guides us through His word, and manifests that of which is beyond our understanding...

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our grief's He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that

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