Hard times, when held with open hands and a tender heart, can prepare us for the future.

God has graciously sewn laughter into our days, bright moments tucked among the shadows of illness and pain, and while those moments don't change our circumstances, they can lessen our pain and shift our hearts toward joy.

Often when we seek comfort, what we long for is healing. If God removed the pain, frustration, discomfort or illness each time we sought His comfort, would we be drawn to Him out of love or simply opportunity?

Sustained loss can sometimes seem never-ending, like a bleak, eternal winter of the soul. Yet spring always returns. Even on the heels of the longest, coldest winter, tender new growth emerges from once frozen soil.

Could illness and pain hold greater purpose than we imagine?

Worry is a knock-off bauble masquerading as Truth, but costing us dearly.