God wants to build spiritual steel of rock-solid faith into you.

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory  which shall be revealed in us."   Romans 8:18
 
 
God wants to build spiritual steel of rock-solid faith into you.  And the way He will do this is through the fire of affliction.  Why?  To test you.  The faith that can't be tested, can't be trusted.
 
The times I have grown the most were not when everything was going fine.  The times when we go through sorrow, pressure, and trouble are the growing pains of our lives with Christ.  Isn't that true?  Someone wrote these lines:
 
"I walked a mile with pleasure, she chatted all the way.
But left me none the wiser, for all she had to say.
I walked a mile with sorrow, and not a word said she.
But oh the things I learned from her, when sorrow walked with me."
 
Are you in the fire of affliction?  Trust that He will see you through and make you stronger when the test is over.
 
Prayer:
Father, I pray for strength and courage as I go through these low grounds of sorrow.  For I believe that in the end, nothing I have endured will equal the joys and the splendor of what You've prepared for my reward. It is through Jesus I pray and by faith believe.  Amen.

By Bishop Bernard Williams