“Sometimes you face difficulties not because you’re doing something wrong, but because you’re doing something right.” –Joel Osteen
Wouldn’t life be simpler if all our problems stemmed from doing something wrong? Then we’d know we were on the wrong track and could begin looking for the right one to make our troubles go away! ;-D!
One thing I know for sure is that whether I’ve been on the wrong track or the right one, difficulties have rarely been far behind. And if I go very long without difficulties, I seem to go out of my way to screw something up so that difficulties can quickly find me again!
I’ve either got a bad case of self-flagellation or a good understanding as to how difficulties often eventually lead to learning, growth, and hopefully, wisdom.
Sometimes I wonder which it is…
Love,
Russ
Russ Towne's A Grateful Man 
I had to read that a couple of times but you’re right when things are going right for too long usually something creeps up on us as a problem….Diane
Yup. Thank you for your comment, Diane. It’s always good to hear from you.
Russ
I think in your case you’ve got a good understanding my friend about
how difficulties make us wiser and stronger. You my friend are both wise and strong 🙂
Thank you for your kind comments, Kendra. I’m honored by them.
Russ
I have to agree with the comment that you are wise and strong :-). And the difficulties that you go through are only serving to make you more so. I think that some people (myself included) go through more than their fair share of difficulties, but need to do so in order to become the person that they were meant to be in order to serve society to their fullest.
I think you have to REALLY experience suffering in order to develop true compassion and empathy, and then use your experience to help others.
Thank you for your wonderful comments, Meg. Some of the kindest, most giving, and empathic people I know have experienced some pretty awful things in their lives. Then again, some people who do some terrible things also appear to have experienced many terrible things in their own live. So to a large extent, I believe it is a choice–like so many other choices we have each day, but one that often comes with much larger consequences.
Some will use their experiences as a way to help others, and some will use them as an excuse to hurt them. But many who head down the latter path can change their minds with the faith, love, hope, coaching, and kindness of others, often especially those who have walked such paths before them and know where they lead unless a different way is chosen in time.