We want to live easy happy lives, but trouble always seems to find us. In the midst of them we cry out to the Lord for relief, and to have mercy on us, but these are the very times that strengthen us most, and prepare us for what lies ahead in our service to God. David would not have been the king that he was had he not first faced Goliath, been pursued by King Saul, or lusted for Bathsheba, and faced the repercussions of that sin. All of the hard things in our lives temper us, and by going through them we are made stronger. We are not made stronger BY our distress, but IN it.