Do you ever find yourself bothered by an inconvenience-- or a tested by a situation? I was thinking about how we, as people, feel when we are met with discomfort. I wonder if our resistance to trial is unique to our generation and affluent culture, or if people have always cringed at the first hint of conflict. Sometimes I acquire this attitude that suggests I do not need or deserve difficulties. How strange is it to expect a life without struggles?
How can we look at the trials in our life and allow them to sculpt us and make us better? Can we look at transition and discomfort and see evidence of a God who loves us? Truly, we can see that individuals who endure hardship can become stronger and more mature as a result. Evidence shows us that we have to work for things that are worthwhile (marriage, childbirth, friendships, education, exercise etc.). We see that pain and discomfort can produce the most tangible and gorgeous evidence of God's love for us. Trial is a part of life. One that is not only necessary but beneficial. I will spend my life trying to be grateful through pressing times. There is so much joy and gratitude to be found in every point of our life, no matter what the circumstances may be.
We say, then, to anyone who is under trial, give Him time to steep the soul in His eternal truth. Go into the open air, look up into the depths of the sky, or out upon the wideness of the sea, or on the strength of the hills that is His also; or, if bound in the body, go forth in the spirit; spirit is not bound. Give Him time and, as surely as dawn follows night, there will break upon the heart a sense of certainty that cannot be shaken.
–Amy Carmichael
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