A while back, when I was very sick and in a great deal of pain, I found myself lamenting with that age-old cry of “Why Me?” I was on the verge of spiraling down into a deep hole of self-pity when a voice in my mind countered with, “Why not you? Who would you rather have suffer through this?”

Of course, the answer is nobody, but I pondered the thought that if someone had to suffer through what I was suffering, would I chose to go through it myself, or would I wish it to pass to someone else? My suffering suddenly became more endurable as I realized that it was far easier for me to experience pain than to have to helplessly watch someone else suffer.

It changed my perspective. Though sometimes very difficult, there really isn’t anything that happens in my life that I cannot endure. That saying “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is true. Sometimes the things in life that we curse as horrible trials are the very things that bless us the most in the long run. Would we be who we are today without the challenges of yesterday? And what of tomorrow. If all of our todays are smooth sailing with nothing to make us stretch and grow, who will we become?

Now, on the other side of my particular trial, I can look back and see how the pain and frustration I experienced then did shape me in positive ways. My lament of, “Why me!” was nothing more than fear and fatigue trying to overcome the courage that resides in each of us. When we let that courage rise up and accept our challenges as opportunities to grow, we discover that we are strong; we are courageous; and there is nothing that we cannot face with confidence in our ability to overcome. So now, when the cry of “Why Me!” bubbles up in my heart, I ask myself “Why not me?” and I am reminded that sometimes the worst trials are my greatest blessings in disguise.