If we didn’t have these challenges and tests

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2a)

 The difficult things we face are often what enable us to reach our full potential and the purpose God has planned for our lives. This is why we need to hold on through those difficult times; we just can’t give up. Even when we don’t clearly see the path ahead, we must persevere!
 If we didn’t have to take anything by faith and we saw clearly the good things the Lord had in store for us right around the bend, these things that seem so difficult or trying to us now would fade into insignificance. We’d hardly notice them. We’d hardly feel them.
 The Lord can’t show us by sight what’s up ahead, but He has told us in His Word that we just have to trust Him that He has great things there for us. Our faith gets tested at these times to see whether we’ll believe Him or not. If we believe Him, then the difficulties that we experience become much lighter; things won’t seem so bad and it will be easier to bear our cross. But if we didn’t have these challenges and tests, we wouldn’t learn the importance of God’s Word.
 We wouldn’t be desperate enough to grab hold of it for dear life, and in so doing, find that it holds us up when everything else lets us down and when everything else seems to be crashing down around us. —Maria Fontaine [1]

 Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it to glory. —William Barclay (1907–1978)

[1] Anchor Holding on to the Joy Set Before Us