Growing

A few weeks ago at work someone said, "Bad days are the worst." And that got me thinking. For me days are tough but they help me grow much faster than an entire year of good days would. Not saying that I seek out bad days, but there is good that can come out of bad days or just bad experiences if we are open to it.

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After I started writing this, there was a post on one of my new favorite blogs that fit so perfectly with this that I wanted to share some of it with you.

[To quote C.S. Lewis,] “The problem of reconciling human suffering with the existence of a God who loves, is only insoluble so long as we attach trivial meaning to the word ‘love.” Too often we confuse God’s love with human kindness. We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven—a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves’ and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of the day, ‘a good time was had by all.’”

But that is not God’s plan for us. He wants us to become like Him. He wants us to experience the fullness of joy He enjoys—eternal joy, not merely temporary contentedness. And He loves us enough that He will do whatever it takes for us to reach that goal, including allowing us to experience things that are difficult and soul-stretching. And He does it not because He doesn’t love us, but precisely because He does.

But even when we have to learn things from our extremities in order to fulfill God’s plan for us, His love will be there to sustain us… especially when we need His love the most. …So let us not sell God’s love short by confusing it with mere human kindness. His love is much deeper than that. (Kevin J. Worthen, “It Was as If a Blanket of Love Was Flowing Over Me”, May 2, 2013, BYU Women’s Conference)

This so perfectly conveys my feelings on the subject and helps me realize the depth of Heavenly Father's love for us. He doesn't give us challenges, trials, or bad days just to see if we will do what He wants us to do. He wants us to grow and He fully realizes that in order to become like Him we have to be challenged or we'll just stay the same.