To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 (NIV)

...I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
So you're supposed to rejoice when you have a bad day.

"Who actually can do that?" -Karen Cain.

Be thankful? Be thankful. For blessings you don't even realize you have. "To keep me from being conceited" - okay. It makes sense. Thorns in your side are somewhat essential to keep us in check, because we really only turn to God when we have a problem/thorn, right? I mean, when things are going good and well, we think it's of our own doing and that we can handle it and then when the world comes crashing down we either come running back to God and eventually admit we can't go it alone or we get angry and ask why this is happening to us.

But God should be enough. That's a scary concept to the world today. How would we find salvation without iPhones and text messaging and Grey's Anatomy? He is sufficient and perfect. As in nothing else is needed.

"God can only use you greatly when he's hurt you deeply."
I heard that tonight. It's a bit controversial wording, maybe uneasy to some, but I get it. Trials are essential for growth. Without them we learn nothing, it seems. The times when you have to hang on and hold fast to faith are the times when you learn, or should be. So maybe that means you just have to delve in deeper to him during hard times. But learning to rejoice in them? That's a whole other story.