Hardship shapes the heart.

I am currently reading a book titled “Everybody Always” by Bob Goff.

The subtitle is “Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People”.

That subtitle drew me into this book (besides it being recommended by a friend) because as someone who is a people pleaser, I want to be able to become love to all of those around me. It will be hard at times (hence the setbacks and difficult people), but that’s part of becoming love.

Love isn’t easy.

Love takes time, endurance, patience, joy, care… so many values.

But love is what we need.

You can define the word however you want, but we all know how it feels to feel love.

In this book, “Everybody Always”, Bob Goff talks about having green lights that tell us when to go and do something in life, but when we don’t have these green lights, we are too scared to take that step.

That absence of a green light can become even worse if instead of missing a light, you have a red light.

Hardship is a red light.

Once we experience it, expect it, or even think of it as a possibility, we stop in our tracks and quit moving forward.

Hardship is hard.

However, I kind of like hardship.

I, of course, do not like it at all when I am enduring it, but I appreciate hardship for what it does for me.

I have experienced enough hardship at this point in my life to know what happens afterward:

• Growth
• Learning
• Reflection
• Positivity
• Help
• Peace

Hardship is unavoidable in our lives, and I think God lets us endure hardships to realize how great He is and how we grow in realizing that we need Him and we realize what is good for us.

In this book, Goff writes:

“God doesn’t allow these kinds of things to happen to mess with our heads; He uses these circumstances to shape our hearts. He knows difficulties and hardship and ambiguity are what cause us to grow because we are reminded of our absolute dependence upon Him.”

Although some of the hardships I’ve endured have been really tough, I know that God has never given me something too hard to overcome.

And the beautiful thing is, when I don’t think I can overcome something, I know God is there to help me through it and I can overcome ANYTHING with Him by my side.

Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

 

Another thing about hardship is that it shouldn’t hold you back from taking your next step.

I know that realistically, hardship will come and hit me.

But knowing that I’ve endured it before, knowing that I have God by my side and that the end will be so much greater than where I am now, allows me to push through and take that next step.

I don’t want anyone to let fear or trouble get in the way of them taking their next step.

I want to see everyone confidently taking their next steps in life and hitting hardship harder than it could ever hit you.

No matter how hard your trials seem, God will get you through it.

Hardship is hard, but hardship shapes the heart.