Does God expect us to suffer, go through trials even once we become a Christian?

We've talked about having a broken heart & how Jesus came to heal the broken hearted.  But today I want to address something that speaks to Christians specifically, that of enduring hardship.  I don't know anyone who has escaped hard times.  Some of us go through them easier than others and with a better attitude, but we all go through them.  Why does God allow this?  I Peter 1:6-7 says "In this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuiness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.