Have you ever noticed how two individuals can face very similar situations, and respond very differently? Whether it’s losing their job, facing sickness, or dealing with the breakdown of a relationship, one may stay focused, positive and determined to come out on top. The other might appear defeated, withdraw from society, and seem somehow lost. We all face challenges. Some trials are bigger than others, but how you navigate seasons of stress and hardship says less about the magnitude of problems you are wrestling with, and more about the condition of your heart.

Tea and sympathy

It’s been attributed to many different sources but whoever said it spoke the truth when they said:

“A woman is like a teabag. If you want to know how strong she is, put her in hot water.”

It’s never fun going through a rough patch.  In fact it’s most certainly the opposite of fun but the reward of coming through a season of struggle and finding out what you’re really made of is very often worth the pain. My husband holds to the wisdom that before you marry someone, you should always see how that person responds to stress. When trouble comes, we tend to revert to survival mode, stripping away all the niceties and frills, and become truer versions of who we are at our core.

Change for the better

We often hear the encouragement: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

It’s a nice thought but it’s not actually true. Troubled times may not actually make you stronger, they may certainly change you but not always for the better. There is a story that says a young woman was having a hard time and her father showed her an egg, some coffee and a potato and dropped each one into a pot of boiling water. The egg came out hard, the potato came out soft and the coffee changed that water around it into coffee. Each item faced the same conditions, but each one reacted differently.

How’s your heart?

The Bible tells us that all that we are flows from our heart. God’s Word tells us to guard our hearts. He encourages us to dwell on good things and not allow the core of who we are to become bitter or despondent. We have been given the ability to choose how we respond to circumstance, and whether we are crushed or strengthened by difficulties lies largely in the way we decide to face each hurdle.