We go from one problem to the next problem, one crisis to the next crisis. Just when things are settling down, here comes another one. It’s tough. Problems aren’t my favorite part of life. But, hey, they are teachers. Adversity offers many opportunities to learn. It’s amazing what we will realize after a time of struggle. There are a few reoccurring themes that have held true to the end, that have been my teachers. These are part of what I have learned from my personal journey of loss, pain, discovery, and healing. Feel free make a print copy.
What Adversity Taught Me
- You are stronger than you think. We don’t think we can make it, but we can. You can.
- Every set-back is an opportunity to grow.
- Friends walk through a crisis with you. We wouldn’t get far without friends.
- Pain is a teacher. Let it teach you. Ask yourself, what can I learn from this?
- God will not forsake you. He carries us through, and then some.
- The sun will rise again. There will be a new day. You will get through this.
- You can’t change someone else, you can only change yourself.
- Healing of damaged emotions is possible with God’s help. We can’t do it on our own.
- There is always hope. No person is hopeless. No situation is hopeless. No trouble is without hope.
- You wouldn’t get far without God. He is in control and we are not.
- Life is a gift. Each one of us is a gift.
- Prayers of the wounded touch the heart of God. He responds to our cries. He tenderly loves us.
- What we think is the end, is the beginning. A crisis shuts one door and then another one opens.
- You have to let go of doing it your way to start doing it God’s way.
- You never know what is down the road and around the bend.
- You have something to say that only you can say. We have a voice and our voice matters.
- Nature has healing properties. It whispers peace to our inner being.
- When all is said and done, God is enough. You wouldn’t get far without God.
- Life is about the journey, not the destination.
- What you are going through today has the potential to help someone tomorrow.
Your turn. What is one thing you have learned from adversity?
One thing I’d add is this – life large, dream big, and die hard in pursuit of God’s plan for your life.
Also, when you feel the urge to kick the authority that says “You can’t!” in the teeth, you may as well use both feet. (That’s a paraphrase of a Keith Richards quote…yes, the Stones’ Keith Richards.)
And for good measure…Life’s a kamikaze mission. You’re going to die anyway. Make it count.
http://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2016/08/your-dying-spouse-199-phoenix-rising-fmf.html
We may say, it is what it is, which aims at acceptance of what is the rality. I like to think that we can attain more by being more in any given situatation. The process of learning what can be gained through interpreting the event enables us to repurpose all endings into beginnings. Even death, the ultimate ending, is actually a new beginning in the next life. Now that ain’t all bad, seems to me, if you’re on good terms with the Creator of life.
Thanks, Andrew.
Norma, I really profited from the things learned from adversity. Thank you for blogging that article, sometimes we just need to remember that walking with Jesus means we’re walking in a ‘foreign’ land. We are aliens here. He placed us here. Now we need to venture out and do His work that He calls us to. But we do have so many struggles on the way ‘home’. So again, thanks for the reminder.
I will miss your blogs, but I do know that the Lord will bring you back refreshed and with many more ideas that He gives you to share with us! That’s an exciting thing to look for those of us that enjoy your blog.
Thank you, dear Judy. I like to remind myself every so often about the truths I have learned. I agree with everything you have said. I an easily amazed. I can’t help but find myself surprised by the way we learn when we have to, when God/life pins us down and we cry ‘uncle.’ Then we give it up and begin to move forward. Crazy but good.
Thanks for you insights and for wishing me well.