What is your level of tolerance for receiving counsel from another?  Do you take offense or are you eager to listen to another’s opinion?  If we are with someone who cares about us, it shouldn’t be difficult to listen to their advice. 

Knowing that God is working things out for our good.  We learn patience, hope, endurance.   We gain strength and are not fragile and easily broken.  We become strong, resilient and unshakeable.

Following Jesus is always best for us, our friends and family.  There is always a temptation to do things our own way.  We can do things that seem obviously right to us at the time.   But there is a slower, more thoughtful way of living.  That is to take time to find wisdom in the scriptures, pray, and seek counsel from other mature believers.  Seeking advice from friends who are no wiser than we are is going to provide poor results.

We can take comfort in knowing that all the generations before us, and to this very day, have gone through similar experiences.  We are not singled out by our trials, and most importantly, we are not alone.  God says He is with us and He wants us to trust Him. 

A grateful heart will not happen overnight, but we can learn to cultivate this way of living.   Being grateful to God will always feel immensely better than resentment, unforgiveness or doubt.  It is not an impossible choice; it is just a better choice.  Turn your mind back to your blessings and praise God with your grateful heart. 

Most people can name several memories where someone said something to them that was cruel.  It may go back to our childhood.  A parent, sibling, teacher or kid at school said something that sticks with us, forever!  If we were to examine these experiences, we might realize that the person who said this hurtful thing to us probably does not even remember it.  But we are still carrying something awful in our hearts that is preventing us from healing and becoming our best self.