God hardened Pharaoh’s heart
to make God’s glory shine.

A man was born blind
so that God’s glory
may be made manifest.

The difficulties in your life
are there on purpose,
to make you really take notice
when you overcome them.

Moses had to go before Pharaoh
10 times
to ask him to let the Israelites leave.
God warned him,
told him,
repeatedly that God was going
to make it difficult.

Think of all the things
you do
all the time
that are for the good.
Not the things you do
to pump up yourself,
but the things you do
for God.
Often it feels like you are
singing the “hole in the bucket” song.
You have to get one thing
right or fixed
before you can do
another part.
It is never straightforward
and it is never easy.
When you finally
push through
you really get a sense of accomplishment.

God does this to us.
It isn’t an accident.
We grow from it.
It strengthens us,
teaches us. Our bones
get stronger,
not our skin.
We don’t get hardened
against the world,
we get toughened
so that we
can heal the world.