Interesting thought today from a sunday school class I attended with my son Dan. It was about the school of experience that everyone goes through in this life. We can try to make it through our tribulations and trials by ourselves or we can use them as a refining influence when we turn to God in prayer to gain strength and comfort. As we exercise our FAITH in God, He can bless and direct us so that we are strengthened by our experiences.
I've known many who just grit their teeth and get through (survive) whatever faces them but are angry and bitter about the unfairness of being made to deal with health or old age challenges, relationships problems including divorce, death or separation, etc. There is a long list but how we deal with our life's experiences determines the quality of our life and our attitude. It's not what happens to us, it's our reaction to it.
Or as my maternal grandmother Johnson used to say..."if life hands you a lemon, make lemon-ade." She was widowed with five young children to raise in 1920 when her husband died of stomach cancer, but she was a fighter and not a quitter. Went to work, raised her children and was a great influence on all her family. (Photo of four of her children, my mom is in the front center, the other girl is Esther who became the babysitter while her mom worked and two brothers l-r Norman and Clarence.)