Tag Archives: Jerry Sittser

day 2778: In The Face Of Adversity

“But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer. For he gets their attention through adversity.”

Adversity.  Seems like a word that comes more and more into our vocabulary daily.  It also will soon become a litmus test and metric for just how much we can handle and/or be willing to experience before we choose another path.  In his book, “A Grace Revealed”, Jerry Sittser had this to say about adversity:

“Not in control, that really is the point. Every experience of adversity forces us to make a decision:  Will we stay on our own course and continue to be our old self, which adversity exposes as small and petty, impatient and angry, irritable and ungrateful.  Or will we choose the course God sets and becomes a different kind of person, one characterized by love for God and neighbor, goodness of heart, and godliness of character? In either case, adversity will not allow us to stay the same. Either we will try to maintain control, growing increasingly angry or depressed in the wake of frustration and failure; or we will grow in character, become more like Christ. Every day we make little decisions that push us in one direction or the other, most often in response to adversity.  It is these little decisions that matter the most.”

So, each little decision that we make today in the face of adversity really does matter.

Reference: Job 36:15 (New Living Translation)