The Opportunity of Adversity

I'm in love with a book that was a gift from Andy Wilson, Sun Stand Still. It is life changing! I keep rereading it trying to soak up all the wisdom. These are some nuggets from the chapter I read today.

"Don't you typically think of adversity as the opposite of opportunity?
I usually pray for God to remove all the obstacles and opposition in my life. To my way of thinking, adversity gets in the way of opportunity. But God doesn't think like I think. I guess that's why he rarely asks me what I think. So instead of taking away our adversity, he develops our faith and demonstrates his strength by working through our adversity...All good stories start with adversity...We'd prefer for God to build a bridge over our troubled waters but it doesn't work that way. It can't because you'd never see how strong God is if there were no opponent for him to overcome in your life.

Without crisis moments we would know nothing of his power. We would have nothing on which to base our trust in his unlimited provision, never prove his potential, never be carried by his tender mercies or have stories to tell of his presence in our darkest hours.

Sometimes his strength is demonstrated in what he does around us and other times his strength shines in us enabling us to endure devastating setbacks with remarkable strength.

Remember that your crisis is your greatest opportunity to see God's glory and goodness revealed- and to have the high honor of revealing him to others."