Blog | Greater Formation

Embrace Life's Challenges: Find Strength in God

Life can feel like one challenge after another. Some days it’s a small bump, other days it’s a full-on mountain. Whether these moments strengthen or shake us depends on how we see adversity—and how we respond.

James challenges us with a surprising perspective:
“Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2).
Why? Because trials are often where God does His deepest work. Growth, maturity, and resilience are rarely forged in comfort—they’re born in pressure. If we lean in, hardship becomes a refining fire, not just a painful season.

Moses said it plainly in Psalm 90:10:
“The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Life is short. And hard. But every difficulty is an opportunity—to deepen our faith, build spiritual strength, and discover purpose in the middle of the pain.

Take David. In 1 Samuel 30, he returned from battle to find

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Standing Through

We tend to do whatever we can to get out of the way of adversity. We may try to think our way out of the mess, to look for help from others or to pray that God will get us out or make it stop. We also receive continual input and advertising that offer us products that will stop our troubles and give us access to the good life to which we are all entitled. If your difficulty is weight, muscle tone, sickness, finance, loneliness, depression or erectile dysfunction – “We have a product that will take care of that for you.”

However, God’s ways are often very different from ours. He uses the hurdles and stubborn obstacles of life to deepen us and produce lasting fruit in our lives. Wisdom and character are grown through adversity, not through escape. There is no product that you can buy that will give you the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) or understanding of the ways of God. These are only forged through a mixture of God’s truth and the kinds of adversity from which we usually seek...

Are You Sending Down Deep Roots?

Most of us tend to do whatever we can to get out of the path of adversity. We will try to think our way out of a mess, look for help from others, or pray that God will just make it stop. Additionally, we all experience the constant inundation of advertisers that offers products to relieve and remove our troubles. They promise to give us access to the good life to which we are all “entitled.” If your difficulty is weight, muscle tone, sickness, finance, loneliness, depression, or erectile dysfunction – “We have a product that will take care of that for you.”

God’s ways are often very different from ours. He uses the hurdles and stubborn obstacles of life to deepen us and produce lasting fruit in our lives. Wisdom and character are grown through adversity, not through escape. There is no product that you can buy that will give you the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) or understanding of the ways of God. These are only forged through a mixture of God’s truth, His Spirit, and the k...

Embrace Life's Challenges: Find Strength in God

Standing Through

Are You Sending Down Deep Roots?

Two Step