![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hardship-200x300.jpg\")
You might wish you had never had any trouble. No doubt, life would be a lot easier without any distress, affliction, or sorrow. But life isn’t that way.<\/p>\nby Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
You might wish you had never had any trouble. No doubt, life would be a lot easier without any distress, affliction, or sorrow. But life isn’t that way.<\/p>\n
Because we often make dumb decisions, because many circumstances are unforeseeable, and because people are, well, people, there are bound to be uncomfortable situations, profound consequences, and difficult times. The hard times can be more valuable than the good times. However, each experience is an opportunity – not necessarily a fun one, but an opportunity nonetheless – to demonstrate that God’s direction within you is real and powerful.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the greatest affliction in life is never to be afflicted at all.<\/p>\n
“We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves<\/em>” (II Corinthians 4:7).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Zeke Flores You might wish you had never had any trouble. No doubt, life would be a lot easier without any distress, affliction, or sorrow. But life isn’t that way. Because we often make dumb decisions, because many circumstances are unforeseeable, and because people are, well, people, there are bound to be uncomfortable situations,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[182,188],"class_list":["post-88850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-suffering","tag-trials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31908,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/songs-in-the-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":88850,"position":0},"title":"Songs in the Night","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Judy Chappelear Sentry Magazine, June 2002 \"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken ... \" That scripture was taken from Acts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/praying-child-245x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":46994,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gods-promises-to-the-faithful\/","url_meta":{"origin":88850,"position":1},"title":"God\u2019s Promises to the Faithful","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford No matter how many times I read the Bible, I always find something new in it. Nor are these discoveries subtle or inconsequential. Often, they are magnificent! So it was with this week's Bible reading. I'm familiar with Revelation. I've taught it several times and read\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Natural_Water_Spring-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":58154,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/those-strange-macedonians\/","url_meta":{"origin":88850,"position":2},"title":"Those “Strange” Macedonians","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bonds Stocks via\u00a0The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 12, October 1952. \"Moreover, brethren we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and deep poverty abounded unto the riches of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32967,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-everyone-blessed-but-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":88850,"position":3},"title":"Why is everyone blessed but me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I always see people being blessed -- everyone except me. I used to be closer to God than I am today. Five years ago I miscarried a child, and I was so discouraged.\u00a0 Before that, I would pray all day but after that happened,\u00a0 I didn't see any reason\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34485,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-we-condemning-those-who-never-heard-the-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":88850,"position":4},"title":"Are We Condemning Those Who Never Heard the Gospel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford I received the following question: \"I heard one yesterday I've been pondering. The man said that unless you believe in God you will be lost. So what about all those people who have never had the opportunity? I have him some answers but I'd be interested\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Yagua_Tribesman-300x253.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40570,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-lost-because-i-passed-up-an-opportunity-to-teach\/","url_meta":{"origin":88850,"position":5},"title":"Am I lost because I passed up an opportunity to teach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since being baptized, I have been interested and active in soul winning. I taught Bible classes for children, worked with VBS, worked with a bus ministry, showed the Jule Miller Film Strips, and sent out Bible correspondence course lessons. I attend worship and Bible study three times a week.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}