It's important to realize that the blessing of life isn't in the receiving of riches, but in the molding of a life based on the pieces that can't possibly hold a price tag: your family, your children, your spouse, your friendships, etc. Those are the people on whom your impact is most precious and most beneficial to the world around you.
You must begin to realize, at some point, that you are part of something bigger and greater in this world and in order to grow into a person of true worth, sometimes it's necessary for life to get a little uncomfortable. You have to be tested, pounded, broken down, and even sometimes pushed to the very limits of what you feel your spirit can tolerate—then pushed one step further—before you can begin to appreciate and decipher the lesson you're being taught.
Does that mean the trials and tribulations you endure will be fair? No, because we are all meant to be tested differently, for different reasons, and at different times.
My father died when I was 11 years old and my relationship with him at the time of his death was contentious at best, estranged at worst. I never had the opportunity to know and understand him as the woman I am now and I struggle with that on a daily basis. However, the experience of him dying made me a stronger, more grateful, person because it made me appreciate early on the value of a life lived with purpose and love.
Perhaps if my father had been more in-tuned with the one (love), he might have been better equipped to fix the other (purpose), and maybe he would be with us today—but then would I still be the woman I am now?
Don't get me wrong, there's not a day that goes by where I don't think of my father and wish he were here to offer me the value of his experience—he'll never know his grandchildren or my husband, he wasn't there to walk me down the aisle, give me advice, or keep away the bad guys I encountered in my youth—but I understand that the plan God had for me required that I go through that experience to get to where I am now. My faith in Him won't allow me to question His purpose for that plan.
The blessings I've had, the choices I've made, and the people I've let in as a result of going through the pain of such a loss played a key role in making me the person I am.
Growth is an inevitable part of life but that growth cannot come without being tested. Forget the part where you think life is supposed to be easy and remember only this: life is a moment to moment conglomeration of everything you both are and can become, and to be tested is a blessing because it means God still knows you can get stronger. He has a plan for you, even if you can't see it yet, and whatever you are going through is His way of saying "I see you. I'm with you. Trust Me".
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