Devotions from John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want To Be

Paul says in Rom. 5 that we should rejoice in our sufferings, and he believed that suffering can lead to growth. Is it possible that adversity in our lives can cause us to reach our fullest level of growth and development?

Robert Roberts describes 3 attitudes of looking at the ups and downs of our lives: 1.Hope. We have the belief that our future holds good prospects and we welcome tomorrow.  2. Despair.  We have longing but we believe that it will go unfulfilled and the future is painful. 3. Resignation.  It is kind of halfway between hope and despair and we convince ourselves that what we want is not really a big deal. The best version is hope and the Spirit never leads us to despair. Our hope in not based on circumstances!

How can we go through adversity and come out the other side stronger than before?  We can call it post-traumatic growth! Adversity can lead to growth in a way that nothing else does.

Think of all the many people in scripture that God used their trials to bring them closer to Himself, and produced perseverance, character and hope. More tomorrow.