God is active and present in both pain and redemption.
The salvation of humanity is fundamentally the work of God. Before the foundation of the world, God elected His people, setting His affection and grace upon them (Rom. 8:29-30). In love God predestined His people for adoption (Eph. 1:4-6). Faith is a gift of grace that is given by the mercy and pleasure of God, so that no one may boast. Apart from the intervention of God, humanity cannot choose of his own accord to worship God and pursue righteousness (Rom. 3; Eph. 2:1-3). God’s sovereignty in salvation is comprehensive: from first to last, all of salvation is the work of God. Likewise, God is also at work behind the suffering his people experience. Patterned after what Scripture teaches us about Jesus’ suffering on the cross (Heb 12:2,1 Peter 2:19-24), those who follow Jesus endure suffering in this life with the same courage and hope (Col 1:24, James 1:2-4). While we know God does not delight in our pain, we believe he is present with us in it and has a purpose for it. We desire to be a people who model the righteous sufferer pictured in the words of Job, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”