Life is difficult. We learn this more & more as we grow older. But that which is difficult can also be good. Peter didn’t think that to be true when he said “God forbid anything bad should happen to you, Lord!” And don’t we often say, “God forbid anything bad should happen to me, Lord! I’m a person of faith!”
But a cross is not a punishment. It’s an opportunity. It’s in times of trouble that we make progress, that we hear things we otherwise would not have heard or learn things we otherwise would not have learned. C.S. Lewis puts it this way: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, God speaks to us in our conscience, but God shouts to us in our pain.” Pain is God’s megaphone.
Good can come from pain but that does not mean that pain is good. We should do all we can to avoid sickness, suffering & death. But when they come to us, we accept them as Christ did. They will teach us and open us to life.