"There's no education like adversity" (Benjamin Disraeli).

As soon as you decide you are going to turn your life around, pick up the pieces and go on, or set your course for a definite goal, you will have some great opportunities to quit!

One leader said, "the most important thing about adversity is that it will bring out the best or the worst in all of us."

The question is not whether you will have adversity. You will have some!

And you will have "Job's comforters" to come and tell you that you cannot make it… that you might as well give up…that things will never be any different.

A day of adversity is the time when hope flees from your heart, when fear paralyzes your mind and destroys enthusiasm, when tears rush to your eyes more often than laughter.

This may be a time when you are tempted to question God's love for you, or sometimes wonder if you still believe in Him at all, or if you are really in His will.

This is the dark night of the soul, the testing hour of the spirit.

But you need to realize that adversity forces you to evaluate what you believe, what your goals are, the methods you have been using to achieve your goals. Every achiever recalls that adversity unlocked the doors to his greatest achievements.

Humility is recognizing personal limitations, being willing to accept those that cannot be changed, but also being willing to do whatever is necessary to change those that can be changed.

In the Gospel of mark, there is an interesting account: The Teacher from Galilee had been ministering. He had started early in the day, then held a "remedial learning session" for his twelve immediate followers.

Later in the day, he said to them, "Let's go over to the other side." (Mark 4:35).

The first thing is to decide to cross over, to develop a vision, to get organized, to set goals and objectives, to learn to manage your time-then to be able to face adversity and win.

Look what happened as soon as the Teacher from Galilee decided to go over to the other side: He found himself in the middle of a big storm.

Perhaps you are in a storm now, possibly in your family relationships.

Perhaps your marriage or in your finances.

Perhaps you have problems spiritually or mentally.

Perhaps you have just had a negative report from the doctor.

One fellow told me his doctor gave him six months to live.

I said, what happened? He said, Oh! When I couldn't pay my bill, he gave me another six months.

Perhaps you are facing a negative report of some kind, a real storm in your life.

Perhaps you are wondering why you should face adversity, or why a storm would come to you.

During a storm of adversity, if you remain teachable, then you are reachable. The good news is that you can have peace in the middle of a storm.

The Lord Jesus said, "My peace I give unto you, not the peace the world gives". John 14:27.

Why not ask Him now to give you that peace? There is no other way to get it. Be encouraged.

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(Next week, "keys to facing adversity")