The Joys of Hardship

I have come to a conclusion about hardship- perceived and real. Hardship does two things- it brings out the best and the worst in us. Let's start with the best. Hardship often unearths our hidden talents that God has given us. When we go through hard times, we have to cope with it. At times we have to do things out of necessity that we never had to do before. For me, it's cooking. I have never considered myself a good cook well maybe an ok one but never good. Since we have moved, I have been trying to stretch the dollar so we have been eating home cooked meals (a lot of times from scratch) which would fall into my realm of the workload. Not to toot my own horn, but I have really discovered I am quite a good cook. Soup is becoming my specialty. My husband seems to enjoy our meals more and my children are trying all kinds of new dishes. (I'll try posting some pictures next time) I never would have discovered this had we had all the money in the world. So the hardships we so despise can actually make us more into the person God created us to be.

Now, the worst. Hardship tends to work out all the things hidden under the surface of our "perfect" lives. Bitterness, resentments, prejudice, critical spirits, superiority complexes....well you get the picture. When these things surface we can deal with them with God's help and overcome in time or we can wallow in them feeling sorry for all the injustices we have experienced. ( I hope you picked up on the whininess of that last bit). We can turn the worst part of hardship into the best part by letting God draw us closer into His presence. I have come to the point where I want to grow past the worst and let God make me more into the compassionate, caring, loving, kind, generous, holy person He intended me to be in the first place.

Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.

James 1:2-4