Ever experience a situation that’s a real pain in the neck? Certainly you have. Three years ago I felt the same way. ‘Unfair and undeserved,’ I called it; something completely unnecessary for me to endure.

Whether the circumstance is a literal pain, a relationship development, a problem on the job or a financial issue, you want it to disappear! Possibly you’ve prayed about it; maybe numerous times, just like I did. My past prayers did me no good at all, as far as I could see. Nothing had changed.

What I did notice, however, is how God’s grace has kept it from troubling me now as much as it did previously. I’m deeply grateful for that grace and thanked my Father for it.

Psalm 119:75 (NIV) tells us, I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me. I again thought of this situation and how I had learned much patience and endurance in experiencing it. I pondered if I’d have learned the depth of those lessons without this unwanted circumstance and marveled again at the grace in it I’d now realized. Yes, my God has been faithful to me through this troublesome situation. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits (Psalm 103:1-2 KJV).

My circumstance stayed the same but my endurance and patience continue to grow even today because of this situation. Let me encourage you that if you are in a detestable time of trial, just hang onto God. He may or may not remove it, but our loving heavenly Father will give you the grace to go through it. Still dealing with the issue, now it appears as annoying but something God’s grace enables me to accept.

Before Paul experienced all his toils and hardships for the gospel, Christ told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV). You and I can experience daily that same grace when we admit our weakness to deal with stressful situations.