An enjoyable account of John's life story through which we also look at the topic of suffering and how God works to sanctify us and put new threads into our lives, mostly through difficult times.
The emphasis is on being hope-filled and positive about God, rather than negative about suffering. John's thesis is that it makes hard times easier to bear if:
a) we can understand that God is working on us through them, and
b) we can learn to co-operate with him rather than being resentful and sulking.
It is about the lessons we need to learn along the way, but it is also about embracing these experiences into which God leads us.