"Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord."" Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NKJV) There are those hard times that come at us as followers of Christ that strip away something that we've come to rely on as a stable part of our life here. Those times can be a good thing when it comes to stripping away something that has inhibited our drawing nearer to Christ or has stymied our growth as His followers. Even so, those occasions may hurt initially, but at some point we may likely be able to look back with gratitude and recognize how the Lord has used these things to prosper us in His eternal economy and change us further into His likeness. There are other hard times that come tho...
A much loved spiritual mentor pointed out to me the difference between the Apostle Paul's past will (a life without Christ) and His new will that evolved after the Lord called Him. He then challenged me to define what my own new will would say... ...let my response be found here...
"It is not the title that people give to themselves that defines who they are; it is the fruit of what they produce." Graham Cooke