Suffering like a Calvinist

We got an email update from a man in our church who has a very sick child. As he and his wife went through the process of diagnosis and treatment (ultimately including surgery) of their pre-schooler, he mentioned in this email how proud he was of his wife:

[We] have had to take a few walks down the hall to look out what we now, maybe cheesily, call the “perspective glass”. It’s a window that overlooks the courtyard below. We sit there to talk and cry and get refocused … and cry some more. I think it was Samuel Rutherford who said, “When I find myself in the cellar of affliction I look for God’s choicest wines.” Many in our church have and are tasting even finer wines, walking through deeper trials; but for our part we have most certainly sensed God’s nearness to be our good these past several days. It’s hard for me to commend my wife more highly than to simply say that she suffers like a Calvinist. She has taken some hard news while whispering through tremors, “You are sovereign and good and we trust You.” We have heard reports that some of the nurses and doctors have observed something different in Rm 312. One Dr. bumped into [a visiting church member] and told her that though she is not a ‘religious person’, she feels “God’s presence in that room”. She went on describing things she’s observed that you and I would simply call ‘sustaining grace’. She has no experiential category for it. Don’t take this to sound triumphalistic or ideal. We’ve cried more these last two weeks than the previous 10 years hands down.

[Edited: all things considered, and on the very wise advice of my husband, I deleted my personal notes here. It's sufficient to say that God is sovereign, He is good, and I trust him; that Romans 8:28 applies when I like my circumstances and also when I don't. - Laura]