Is it possible for us today to rejoice when we face disappointments, tragedies, persecutions, bereavements and setbacks? In an engaging and highly readable style, Ian Rees shows us that suffering is a normal part of the Christian experience, and that Christians down the ages, from believers in Old Testament times right up to the present day, have often had the experience of their faith being put through the furnace, and that there is a plan and a purpose in our trials, even when we feel God has forgotten us. This is a book that is full of sound biblical teaching, richly illustrated from church history, missionary work, church life and contemporary culture, and written sensitively and in a deeply pastoral manner.