We are always on the anvil by trials God is shaping us for higher things.

Troubles are often the tools God fashions us for better things.

Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.

There are uses to adversity, and they don't reveal themselves until tested. Whether it's serious illness, financial hardship, or the simple constraint of parents who speak limited English, difficulty can tap unexpected strengths.

God's purpose in creation was to let us prove ourselves. The plan was explained to us in the spirit world before we were born. We were valiant enough there to qualify for the opportunity to choose against temptation here to prepare for eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God.

God uses the tension, complexity, and challenge of doing His kingdom work to transform us into champions.

We get what we deserve in life, and the challenges and evils that come are opportunities to overcome.

Everything will happen as was written by the Lord, replied the prophet. There are moments when tribulations occur in our lives, and we cannot avoid them. But they are there for some reason. What reason? That is a question we cannot answer before, or even during the trials. Only when we have overcome them do we understand why they were there.

What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we've learned as we've moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up. It's the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.

If you only walk on sunny days you'll never reach your destination.

I know that God is putting me through the fire of afflictions. I've accepted the blows that life has dealt me, and sometimes I feel as cold and indifferent as the water that inflicts such pain on the steel. But my one prayer is this: 'Please, God, my Mother, don't give up until I've taken on the shape that you wish for me. Do this by whatever means you think best, for as long as you like but never ever throw me on the scrap heap of souls.

Circumstances do not make you what you are, they reveal what you are.