Why We Struggle

I sometimes think that life would be much simpler if I could just pick up my family, move to some tropical island, and spend the days floating on the water, sipping pineapple juice, and building sand castles. We’d be sheltered from all problems, all suffering, all fear. Sounds perfectly perfect, right? But, in the long run, would it really be all that good? Would we really be the people we are today if it were easy all the time? We’d all love it if our lives were easy, problem-free, and painless. Why is it that we have to endure pain, heartache, uncertainty, fear, loss, and despair?
I found a glimmer of the answer in a reflection I was reading on Genesis 37 by author, Hanna Whitall Smith. She writes, “It is no matter who starts our trial, whether human, or devil, or even our own foolish self. If God permits it to reach us, He has by this permission made the trial His own, and will turn it for us into a chariot of love which will carry our souls to a place of blessing that we could not have reached in any other way.”  
Think about the trials you’ve endured and come through on the other end, whether it was the loss of a loved one, a serious illness, the shame in something from your past, or a stumble that turned into a big-time face plant. No matter what, you are likely different, and better, for having come through it. Had you never experienced the depths of the trial, you wouldn’t be the person you are today. And the biggest comfort in this truth is that He is with us every step of the way. As the author reveals, God takes our trials on as His own. He only lets those in that will “carry our souls to a place of blessing that we could not have reached in any other way.”
Indeed, in our struggles, we find God walking right alongside us, anticipating the great blessings that will come into our lives from having done so. And it is in this parternship, that we find true comfort and joy. Let Him hold your hand today as you move through your journey, and be comforted in the truth that you are being led to a place of abundant blessings, a place that you wouldn’t have known had you not endured the struggle.