Called to Suffer

I was reading Acts 9 the other day.
Context: Saul (later called Paul), the Jewish religious leader, is on a mission to persecute the early believers when he has a terrifying encounter with Jesus and is struck blind.  He goes to a nearby town, where he will find out what he is to do.  Meanwhile, Ananias has a vision in which God tells him to go to Saul, that God might use him to restore his sight.
Ananias, of course, is disconcerted.  "Lord," he says, "This man is murdering your people left and right, and now he has orders to come here and kill us!"

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." (Acts 9:15)

 This really struck me. God clearly called Saul/Paul to preach the Gospel all over the Roman empire; he used him to write most of our New Testament.  But he doesn't use any of those qualifications as the basis for his call here.  Instead, he calls Paul to suffer.
At a time when Christianity was unpopular to say the least, the call to suffer was not an unusual one. Were believers then called to the same basic elements of the Christian life that we are now? Grace. Forgiveness. Adoption as sons and daughters.  Freedom.  Life everlasting.  Perfect love...etc.  Indeed, I certainly believe so.  But they were also called to suffer.

So this made me think.

What about us? Are we called to suffer?  Would we even recognize the call if we heard it?  Suffering is not a popular concept to our culture, and the church in America tends to brush over the topic as well.  Most people I know wouldn't want to be called to suffer. But it certainly did not deter Paul from following Christ and fulfilling his apostolic role.
Or did suffering mean something different then than it does today?  I wonder.

It's fascinating to read the writings of the early martyrs.  For instance, Ignatius in the first century AD wrote that his sufferings would make him a true disciple; he hoped that through them he would become pure, a literally living sacrifice before God (Romans 12:1).  He wrote:

Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful tortures of the devil come upon me; only let me get to Jesus Christ….  All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing…. Him I seek, who died for us; Him I desire, who rose again for our sake.  This is the gain which is laid up for me.  Pardon me, brethren, do not keep me from living, do not wish to keep me in a state of death; while I desire to belong to God, do not give me over to the world. 

What role does (or should) suffering play for us in North America as followers of a crucified and risen Christ?