Hope this helps,

Michael

I have seen life come and go and experienced ups and downs and have similar experiences of coming to an understanding that the Lord has different purposes than I realize for my life.

I do believe that He is “polishing” all of His children to bring us into a place of “sparkling” and “shining” brighter and brighter. This really only comes through adversity and so I have come to appreciate the “hard” things in life as I know that they bring me to a much better place on the other side. And…God uses these things in the most beautiful manner possible.

Great stuff!

Great name, BTW! But I agree with you totally that we tend to not listen to God in the good times. Why is that I wonder?

I love the learning angle as well. If we are looking for what we can learn from the experience, maybe we would have less time to whine.

You know I never had really thought about the polishing effect either, but once I embraced that the adversity seemed more friendly, if that makes sense. Thanks for sharing.

I really like the statement that “adversity breeds progress”. It’s never convenient mostly because we don’t want to ever have it in our lives. Thanks for sharing your insightful comments.

I can’t wait to read your post. Don’t give up. You are going to get there. I can’t wait to see what a shining gem you will be when you get there, because you are already shining pretty brightly.

I appreciate your viewpoint. I think we all at least feel like we’re diamonds in the rough and like Karin said “Perception is reality.”

Great words of wisdom they are, too. And yes, I’ve had a lot of practice getting back up on the horse as well. LOL