If you’re going through a difficult time right now, let Paul’s words encourage you. ‘Surrounded and battered by troubles…we’re not demoralised; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows…we’ve been spiritually terrorised, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken’ (vv. 8-9 MSG). Who was Paul talking to? Followers of Christ who were having a rough time. Here is what he told them: ‘For all [these] things are [taking place] for your sake…Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day…For…(this slight distress of the passing hour) is…producing…an everlasting weight of glory’ (vv. 15-17 AMPC). When you’re under pressure, your faith grows – and God knows exactly how much pressure to apply! He will let you get to 1) a place where you’re out of answers and your resources seem depleted, 2) a place where you’re tired of Satan stealing what you know God promised you, and 3) a place where you’re no longer willing to let other people’s opinions control you. (Remember, with God there are no hopeless situations, just people who have grown hopeless about them.) It’s when there is nothing more you can do that you start trusting God to do the impossible. As Paul says, ‘This slight distress of the passing hour’ (v. 17 AMPC). The crisis you’re experiencing may be a blessing in disguise; an opportunity to experience God’s ‘unfolding grace’ and a greater degree of His power at work in your life.