I recently tweeted this: "Adversity is difficult but good - it makes you develop muscles and resources you didn't know you had."
A reader commented: "Yes. My "muscles" are almost on bodybuilder level. (smile) It's all working for my good though."
I thought that's an excellent way to look at this process -- because bodybuilders are tough, they're toned, they're usually preparing for a contest.
We daily enter a contest we call life -- the more times we go through adversity and exclaim, "Whew! Made it," we're usually a little wiser, a little tougher and more prepared for the next challenge in this experience we call life.