Life can feel like one challenge after another. Some days it’s a small bump, other days it’s a full-on mountain. Whether these moments strengthen or shake us depends on how we see adversity—and how we respond.

James challenges us with a surprising perspective:
“Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2).
Why? Because trials are often where God does His deepest work. Growth, maturity, and resilience are rarely forged in comfort—they’re born in pressure. If we lean in, hardship becomes a refining fire, not just a painful season.

Moses said it plainly in Psalm 90:10:
“The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Life is short. And hard. But every difficulty is an opportunity—to deepen our faith, build spiritual strength, and discover purpose in the middle of the pain.

Take David. In 1 Samuel 30, he returned from battle to find

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