Enduring Tough Times

James 1:3 “Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”

During our climb up the mountain of life, we may experience some difficult times. At times we may lose our breath, pull a muscle or twist an ankle. It is at these times that we must be willing to fight through the pain and the hurt to achieve the goal that is at hand.
If you never thought about it, you might expect that the positive and beautiful memories from the past would be the ones that would increase your faith. I always believed, for example, that one or two really dramatic or miraculous answers to prayer would increase my faith immeasurably. If I had just a few victories that were pleasant I would be able to do anything that God asked me to do. Yet, it hasn’t seemed to work out that way.
Tough times, painful times, of course, do one of two things to you. They either break you or they make you. If you are utterly crushed by them you will do everything within your power to bury them into the far recesses of your memory. If you are able to survive the times when you didn’t think you could take one more step, you will be excited to allow those victories to come to the forefront of your memory.
We have a promise from God that He will not allow any more than we can bear in our journey. So we have to realize that without those tough times we may never end up where God desires. God has placed those times in our lives to mold and form us into His image. Always remember, the struggles on our journey up the mountain of sacrifice will forever pale in light of His journey up the hill of Calvary.

"I learned from the example of my father that the manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured."
Dean Acheson