Suffering is usually listed among the spiritual disciplines, not because we seek it out like we do prayer or fasting or serving, but because it seeks us out. Suffering is not a habit we choose, the discipline comes in how we face it, how we respond to it, and what we learn from it. The discipline is not in the suffering, but in the perseverance we develop in the midst of it. Anyone who truly wants to walk with God will have to learn how to walk through times of trial.