John Bradshaw - More Than Worth It
No one in their right mind wishes for hardship, but there are times that your hardship is a means for God to do something he might not be able to do if you hadn't dipped your toes into the pond of adversity. For example, a death decree resulted in Daniel's vision of a great image which led ultimately to Nebuchadnezzar's conversion.
We see something similar in Acts 16, "And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they laid many stripes on them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely: who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in stocks".
Your first reaction might be "oh poor Paul and Silas," and that would be natural enough, but read on in the story, and there's an incredible conversion that simply wouldn't have happened if Paul and Silas had not been unjustly imprisoned. So, the next time you get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, ask yourself or better yet, ask God if he has a purpose in it; if there's someone you can reach with the message of Christ. Computer breaks down, you run out of gas, you have sold the wrong part, you have to go back to the parts store; it might just be that God wants to use your circumstances for his glory.
A terminally ill friend of mine told me that his illness was the best witnessing tool he'd ever had, so instead of losing your experience when the ball bounces the wrong way, ask God what he might be doing through your straightened circumstances. If someone can be reached, your trial is more than worth it.
One day we'll see Paul and Silas in heaven, you might get an opportunity to ask them what was that like tell me how you felt, what was it like going through that really difficult experience, you were beaten, falsely, accused, unjustly imprisoned. They would say it was well worth it, it wasn't for us, it was for somebody else. I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written.