Adversities are a part of living, and we choose the way we react to each adversity in our lives. I would be the last to deny that adversities can be exceedingly difficult. Many times they will be senseless, unfair, painful, and beyond our control to prevent. However, they come into our lives for a reason. We can choose to learn valuable lessons from each adversity we encounter.

Learning Valuable Life Lessons

Marvin J. Ashton (1915-1994) said, "Adversity will surface in every life. How we meet it makes the difference."

Tough times, events, and circumstances can teach us much about ourselves and other people. They bring us face to face with our honesty, integrity, sense of personal responsibility, and ways of dealing with life's blows.

Initially, we want to bury our hurt and grief deeply inside rather than experience painful emotions. However, before the pain and grief will subside, we must pick up the pieces. We must fully move through these feelings of discouragement, grief, and pain, allowing ourselves complete emotional expression before the pain will ease its hold.

In the process of allowing ourselves to feel our emotions completely, we learn valuable life lessons. We also discover how resilient and strong we are at any given point in our life. If we look closely at each adversity, we become wiser to life's ways, our ways, and people's ways. Each adversity we encounter can bring new insight into human nature.

As tough as life's lessons sometimes are, each holds the seed of an equal or greater blessing, a pathway to new growth as a human being. It is our responsibility to learn each lesson. Otherwise, we will be handed a more difficult scenario of the same lesson again. The lessons we are meant to learn will reappear until we learn them completely.

Discovering Blessings and Wisdom

The more difficult the adversity, the more valuable will be the lessons it offers to teach. By exercising faith in a Power greater than ourselves, we discover we are not alone in any adversity. We learn to see blessings appear