Adversity should be embraced and used to strengthen our resolve.
Proper use of adversity can make you bold as a lion.
A therapist had been seeing a young boy for quite some time.
Although his siblings loved swimming and found every opportunity to get in the water, the boy had an acute fear of swimming because of the sharks he saw in the water.
After a while the family came to terms with that fact that their son would never enjoy water sports as his brothers and sisters did, so they ended the therapy sessions.
Years went by until one day the therapist ran into the family at a farmers market.
The young man had grown considerably since she had last seen him.
She greeted the young man with a hug, and told him how nice it was to see him again.
The therapist couldn't help but notice the young man's athletic build.
She asked him how he was doing and asked if he was on a sports team in school.
The young man told the therapist that he was the captain of the swim team.
The therapist commended the young man for overcoming his fear of the sharks in the water.
The young man replied, "The sharks are still there, I've just learned to swim faster than they do".
We all have to deal with adversity of some kind in life.
Adversity is never the issue.
How we respond to adversity is the issue.
If we are wise enough, we can take the stumbling blocks that the enemy throws in our path to trip us up and step on them.
As we use those stumbling blocks to rise higher in life, we build testimonies to help and inspire others as we use the power of God to crush our enemy under our feet.