Growing through adversity

Have you ever had a pebble in your shoe where every time you step down there was a sharp pain that shot through your foot and you just wanted to stop, take the shoe off and get rid of it?


Sometimes trials are like that, you feel the pain of adversity and you just want it to go away. But we have to remember, it is through that pain, through those difficulties in our lives that God strengthens and shapes us into the image of His son.

It is easy to say God is in control and everything will work out when things are going well; but, what about when you are in the midst of a trial? My friend, we need to look to Christ as our example. Hebrews 12:2 "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Think about the suffering, the pain and agony of the cross, bearing God's wrath for our sins and yet scripture says he endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. He died and suffered for us so that we could live throughout eternity with Him. My friend, our adversity does not compare to what Christ suffered for us, but we are to look at Christ's example and look beyond the adversity to what God is doing in our lives and rejoice in the certainty that He is at work in us to cause us to grow.

The Christian life is about constantly growing, constantly being shaped into what God wants us to be.