Trials & Tribulations

So 2 weeks ago was my old pastor's going away service and in her speech she said something that hit me hard..."pray not for smoother roads ahead, but for stronger legs to endure." And that automatically brought me to one of my favourite verses in James, coincidentally the verses she sent to me when I emailed her about my struggles a couple years ago. About trials and temptations...and how we should embrace it because God uses it to change us, to shape us, to teach us. The words she said...about not praying for our lives to be easier and for things to be handed to us and such...but for God to work in us and to give us the strength to endure the tests and obstacles that are going to be thrown at us. I always tell myself life would be no fun if everything was all good and easy. It's like a roller coaster that only goes down...it's when you're slowly going up the roller coaster that builds the excitement and anticipation. Similarly in life, it's the failures, the pain, the struggle...that makes the triumphs and the success so much sweeter. That's just a mental note I gotta keep telling myself...to not pray that my life will be easier..but to pray for stronger legs to endure whatever is going to be thrown at me.