A Path through suffering

I have been reading Elisabeth Elliot's, A Path through suffering.
In contemplating this title, I notice that it says through. I am encouraged to believe that there will be an end to this, that I will eventually get to the other side. The subtitle of this book is "Discovering the relationship between God's mercy and our pain,"--a fitting comment that helps me understand there is a purpose behind the things we endure. This seems more that a little contradiction, since we so often equate God's mercy with absence of pain or suffering. When we think about it, how could we expect to escape some measure of pain and suffering when God not only allowed His precious son to suffer physical pain, humiliation, and most certainly emotional and spiritual pain on the cross, but He ordained it. God loved Him, and He loves us, enough that He allows these painful circumstances to interrupt our lives in order to bring us to the place He wants us to be, totally surrendered to Him.
In her book, Elisabeth Elliot says in the Christian's life there is "a life-out-of-death principle. Death is the only way out of any world in which we are. The newborn baby dies a death to the safe, warm life of the womb. The reborn Christian forsakes the old life, 'dies' to it, and receives the life of Christ in its place. The surrender of one's will--what could be more certainly a death? But it is the condition of receiving God's will, God's life, God's joy...We must learn what death is about--death to ourselves--and to take up the cross, that is, willingly accept the will of God which went so strongly against the grain of my own. It is not easy. Jesus never suggested that it would be...The cross means suffering. Suffering's meaning is to be learned through the cross."
I am not there yet, but I am working on it. I continue to trust God for my healing, OR not my healing as He sees fit. I want to be healed. I believe it is His will for my body to be well. But I know He has a purpose in what I am experiencing now. Either way, I trust His providence. I have so much to be thankful for. I am NOT in a lot of pain. I believe He has used these circumstances to draw me closer to Him. Although I am not to the point I can thank Him for this tumor, I do thank Him for what has been wrought in my life because of it.