It was just about five weeks prior to learning that I had cancer.

On Saturday, September 21, 2013, while reading the Bible during a morning devotional, I felt the following Proverb rouse conviction within my heart:

"If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small." (Proverb 24:10, New Living Translation)

It's amazing of all the unsolicited comments espoused by our loved ones and friends when we endure adversities. Although well-intended, these statements may have an unintended adverse emotional impact on the individual of whom they are attempting to help...not realizing the receiver's current state, the following statements will unlikely help: "You're going to be fine"..."Everything will be fine"..."I know how you feel"..."How serious is it?"...or "God doesn't give you more than you can handle."

Adversity is not a picnic

None of us enjoy the discomfort and pain that adversity brings. On many occasions trials will bring down the strongest of people. Stricken poverty, loss of a loved one, and chronic health sickness are just a few life's daggers we humans must face.

Author Dr. M. Scott Peck wrote:

"Life is difficult. Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters." (The Road Less Traveled,1978)

However, many individuals facing life's adversities and other difficulties may attempt to placate the situation with fruitless self-remedies. They fail under pressure by yielding to impatience...or being so absorbed by the trial that they forget of past prosperity...or even yielding to a sorrowful disposition so far as to preclude required exertion, strength and energy...and there are some who take unholy measures to remove themselves from the difficulty, but only exacerbating their unfortunate state.

So, if we must face life's daggers, how do we endure in a way that allows us to get through the trial and enjoy better times ahead?

I am not a trained counselor nor psychologist, but I may be able to help. In my next journal I will describe the nature of trials in a Biblical, as well as a practical perspective.

ajh