This is something often not realized until a person looks back on their life. I believe time and space are such an intricate web that God weaves beyond what we can understand to teach us, grow us, and shape us. The smallest things can influence us good or bad and can change the trajectory of our lives. I want to dive into how facing difficulties in various places in our lives can actually propel us into taking what is meant to be our next step in life.
One clear example comes to my mind in my own life. In 2017, I was living with my best friend at the time and working varying part-time hours in x-ray. I was okay with my life, but really the stress about my living situation was growing. My roommate never cleaned and she neglected many things including our friendship. Dealing with that every day was hard. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I had to leave.
When I realized this I prayed. At that time I didn’t pray ever. Despite having abandoned many of my beliefs I knew I couldn’t do this on my own. I needed divine intervention. I even acknowledged how I had strayed in my life and I asked God for help. Not to just pull me out of that living situation, but to pull me out of that life. It dawned on me that this difficulty was a reflection of something greater.
Months after that prayer I got an x-ray job that was full-time to save up money to move. A year and a half later I did move and bought my own home as I had hoped. It was in that place God brought me back to Himself.
So I really can’t help but think: If things had been so great for me living with my friend I would have never left. I wouldn’t be living where I am now. Where would I even be right now? Maybe good fortune is what traps some people. Stops them from reaching for God. Perhaps that’s part of why it’s harder for a rich man to enter heaven (Matthew 19:24). For when you have everything you need in this life handed to you why would you even look for God?
For I envied the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have an easy time until they die, and their bodies are well fed. They are not in trouble like others; they are not afflicted like most people. Psalms 73:3-5 CSB
Adversity is what propelled me to take that next step. To apply for that full-time job. To hunker down and save money. To sign the closing papers for that home. And just how many more steps is this all leading me to? Even this very day? It’s beyond what a person can comprehend.
Life is full of taking steps. One after the other. Not really knowing exactly where this next step is taking us.
So I am so grateful I experienced adversity and was uncomfortable where I was in 2017, because that was not where I was meant to stay! I had a new home and new life waiting for me. Good fortune in the wrong place would have been my trap holding me back.
We can’t imagine what is on the other side of difficulty. At times we endure it and other times we are moved by it, but either way it shapes us. Adversity lead me to make the big leap of moving away from home at a young age and to owning my own place later. It has lead me to my latest job and I am beginning to reap so many benefits from adversity.
I have this illustration that comes to mind on this topic. I imagine an old colonial sailing ship out at sea and a young man looks to the dark horizon with huge thick storm clouds blooming upward and blackening the sea waters below. He turns to an old hardened seaman next to him with fear in his eyes. The old man cackles and looks at the boy with steady deep-set eyes, “eh, I seen many a storms blacker dan that! En’t nothing on these high seas en’t n’er seen before.”
I want to be that seasoned old seaman. Someone who isn’t so afraid of some dark clouds and rough seas. Someone who has the grit to look at adversity and say, “Do yer werst.”
