Turning Suffering Into Strength

You always hear people quote: "without suffering, there'd be no compassion". Tell that to someone suffering and it goes in one ear and out the other. However there is great truth in that. When things are going great in life, it's hard to really take the time to stop and be grateful or think of those less fortunate. In a lot of ways, if you haven't experienced any true suffering in this lifetime, the smallest things can seem like a huge deal. It's easy to think everything's going wrong, if some small hardship gets in the way. That person, doesn't know true suffering, so petty things get catastrophized.
Sometimes I witness that and think what in the world would that person do if something truely traumatic happened? How would they even know how to deal with it?
I am not the same person that I was 2 years ago. I experienced 2 traumatic losses in the course of 8 months, that affected me deeply. I can say I have truely experienced suffering. Im continuing to experience heartache I never thought possible. But because of that, I am a stronger person than I ever thought I was. It's tested my faith and character and although its been hard, I've continued to get through it with as much grace as I can manage. I am forever thankful for those trials because its altered my being and has made me closer to the person I want to be.