Why is there pain and suffering?

"Sin and pain seem to prevail. Babies die of cancer. Puppies are hit on the road. Hitler rises to power. We yell at our children. The power of suffering is that great. So what, in the end, does the cross really mean? What good is an escape route, really, if it does not open until the end of time? I think that the answer, in part, is that the cross never promises to free us from pain and suffering, not at least in the present. The cross, in fact, promises just the opposite: the certainty of pain and suffering.

Here is the mystery: The path of joy runs straight through the heart of pain and suffering. Christianity, alone among the world's religions, does not run from pain but embraces it, and then and only then does it move through it. Jesus Christ is our example of faith: 'For the joy set before him enduring the cross, scorning it shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God' (Hebrews 12:2)...

Faith carries with it movement--from what we know to what we long for, from suffering to joy, from earth to heaven."

I found this devotional (written by a Deforia Lane) in my Women's Devotional Bible (NIV)

I thought this was beautiful and wanted to share. I myself don't understand pain and suffering, but maybe I don't have to. Maybe I just need to know the One who will, someday, annihilate pain forever. Amen!