Understanding.

   Because of God, I am happy. Because of God, I have patience. Because of God, I have found peace. I am thankful. for every hardship I have experienced, for it has only made me stronger.

   Difficulties force us to rely on God. They are a reminder that we cannot accomplish everything in this life on our own. The moments of happiness remind us to rejoice in God, for without Him, we would not have them. In order to have balance, we must understand that a balance between challenges and understandings are always present. One cannot exist without the other.

   At the time, I cannot say I was happy with every hurdle I had to cross, but in the end, I realized that it was worth it. If everything worked out perfectly, would I have turned to God and rejoiced? I would like to think I would have, but I cannot be sure. If God had not challenged me as He did, I am not sure if my faith would be as strong as it now is. As much as it hurt to go through each day with sadness, without those days of sadness, I would not have found the happiness already in my life.

   When something goes wrong, we immediately look for ways to fix the problem, instead of looking at the things in our lives that are going right. I realized that aside from my "burdens", I had so much to be grateful for. God has blessed me in more ways than one. I know now that I needed to realize how lucky I am to be one of His children to be happy. I was looking for happiness in the wrong places.
   I gave everything I worried about to God. I was broken, I was imperfect, I was a mess. God picked me up and pieced me back together. God fixed me and gave me understanding. God opened my eyes to the life that was always in front of me. God gave me happiness, and He made sense of the sadness. God guided me through the darkness, and I am continuing to follow His light. His gifts are above all other gifts. His love is the most wonderful and precious gift of all.