Romans 5:4

Romans 5:4

It's hard to rejoice in our afflictions, so we look one step ahead toward our goal. The afflictions give us the benefit of patience. If that's not motivating enough, patience gives us the benefit of proven character. Look one step further to see the proven character giving us hope. If we can see that the trials we are experiencing now will bring hope to us in the near future, the trials and afflictions become easier to endure. And this hope is for something far more wonderful than anything we hope for here on this earth. For here we hope for gifts, celebrations, relationships, time with people we love. But the hope spoken of in the Bible is for the fulfillment, the completion, the reality we can only dream of now. It is for gifts beyond price, celebrations greater than we've ever experienced, relationships more complete than we've ever dreamed possible, and love that fully accepts, welcomes, and enhances us as we were truly designed to be.