In my Christian walk, aside from the blood and the Spirit of God, nothing has aided my growth and understanding as have my trials.  Nothing causes deeper conversion, more fervent prayer, and zeal for God than trials.  I can think of a good fifteen years where nothing much happened externally and as a result nothing much happened internally.  But the trial of our faith is much more precious than gold that perishes, though tried by fire, will bring forth praise, and honor, and glory to God. (1Pt1)  James tells us to count it all joy when you fall into various trials and Paul would not glory in his blessings and answer to prayer but rather in his infirmities.  It was when God decided to bring it on that my faith became real and not theoretical.  It is when your back is up against the wall where you find out what you are made of.  All the talk about faith and how you can get what you want through faith is merely a vapor without trials.  I have grown because of my trials not in spite of them.  I would not desire to go through it again but I rejoice that God has put me into the crucible to be tried and tested.  All of the dross of my life, lust, fear, anxiety, and timidity has come to the surface and been removed because God placed me in the fire.  I have prayed more, studied more, cried out more, fasted more because of the challenges that God has designed for me to experience.  As a result the Holy Spirit is stronger in my life than He has ever been with gifts and fruit abounding.  Unless you go through something in your life you can not be there for those who are going through something themselves.  It is because of trials that I can pray and minister to others when it seems that all is lost because I’ve been there myself.  It is because God put me to the test that I can counsel without doubting and without fear and in absolute confidence in God.  Fever Pitch not Lazy Day has made all the difference in my life.  I thank God for the trials and all the gifts and fruit that have resulted from them.  When I am weak then I am strong.  When I am in a hard place, faith is born.  Salvation is a process that brings about sons and daughters of God who have gone through and won the victory because of the trials and challenges of life faced.  Praise the Lord for trials. They are your greatest blessing and cause the greatest transformations in your life.  They have been in mine.