I'll share my thoughts and experiences (probably tomorrow) but for now just wanted to share something...
When I was young our pastor committed adultery with someone in the church. It wasn't an ongoing affair, but rather a one time event (still sinful), where he gave in to the temptation. He got her pregnant and then decided to resign as pastor. Not long after this happened he got testicular cancer. I always wondered if this was God punishing him since it seemed to fit with what he had done. No idea. He backslid for a while after that. I think he also struggled to forgive himself too. Very sad.
There were other sinful things going on in that church. It was like the devil was playing lots of games. One of the elders was stealing money, and him and his wife were causing conflict in the church. At the time my mother was new to the faith, but really on fire, and God was using her in a big way... lots of people were getting saved and as a result there was a lot of jealousy. They couldn't understand why God was hardly using them as mature believers, but yet He was using my mother as a baby christian. She was humble and felt victimized by some in the church. There were other things going on too.
Anyway, that elder suddenly died. It was as if he were the main stumbling block in the church that was being removed, perhaps. And at the same time the other elder's wife left him for another man, also abandoning their 3 children. So both were left without their spouse, the spouses that had been causing the main issues in the church.
Looking on it did seem like their suffering was a result of their disobedience... they suffered sickness, death and loss. So I believe this was God chastening His children. The two that suffered a loss became very humble in the end, and stronger in their faith. I have no idea what happened to the pastor.
I'm not saying that someone who gets sick is being punished. Not at all. My father is a cancer survivor even. Rather I'm just saying that I believe God could choose to make someone sick as part of His chastening. I believe He may have in this church I grew up in.
But I'll post again as there is more to this topic than what I've shared. I've only covered God's chastening as one of them.