Have you ever noticed how incredibly well some people take bad, bad news? We wonder how they can stand it. What must be going through their minds? Aren't they in stark terror?

It could be an illness. It could be a family death. It could be the demise of a spouse, or a divorce, after long years of marriage. It could be a financial crisis. It could be -- anything. Loneliness. Persecution. Imprisonment!

How do they handle it?

We wonder but the answer is simply that God gives us the grace to handle every trial. When there are special problems there is special grace. No matter how "dire," there is always an enhancement of His power -- if a person taps into it.

That's the big "if": the afflicted person must sense this special Grace from God and accept it. When that occurs, it can even turn out to be a "trial with a smile." That's certainly the optimal case.

How hard life is, and is meant to be. We try to find Heaven here on earth but there will always be struggles because that's the way life on this planet is designed: as preparation for the hereafter, not as paradise. We're expected to persevere. We are not expected to be perfect. We're expected to try, and try again. Failure isn't as important (not remotely) as effort.

We are here to learn and when we fail we simply must go at it once more instead of hovering over the failure (which is what the enemy wants us to do). Pick yourself up by the bootstraps!

We all know how life works: A good day is followed by a "bad" one. A great day is followed by one that is "terrible."

It's simply the test of life.

And: try as you might, you will never change that. Always, there will be challenges. It's for our growth!

No matter what you do, you'll never be able to figure out a formula for turning every day into one that goes your way -- unless you approach "good" and "bad" the same way: with the knowledge that handling it correctly resounds to eternity. That is: trial with a smile. Look for the good in a test. When you do that, a "problem" becomes a joy because we know that we advance all the more in the scheme of Heaven when we pass the test.

"Right there, you must stop and make a decision," says a preacher. "Are you going to dwell on that lie from the enemy and allow fear to have its way with you, or will you be disciplined in your thought life and do what the Scripture says? The Bible says, 'Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- mediate on these things (Philippians 4:8)."

God never gives us a test we can't handle. "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness," He says (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Oh, how often we wonder why God doesn't "answer" a prayer! We want Him to respond the way we want -- exactly how we want -- to every request. Aren't you disappointed, sometimes -- often -- when one of your requests goes unanswered?

Yet, think about that:

If God answered every single prayer, every single thing we want, and made every single thing the way we think it's supposed to be, we would be directing the show and we would have placed ourselves in the position of being God ourselves (which of course is not in The Plan).

If God answered every prayer the way we want Him to answer it, the soul would not advance!

When what we ask for is in line with His Plan, however, that's a different story. We move forward. Miracles occur. We receive grace. We have tapped into it. "Maybe your business has been a little slow, and in your imagination you've already seen it going under," adds that preacher. "You've seen the creditors coming and shutting it down. No, instead, cast down those wrong imaginations and start seeing your business turn around."

Don't accept the "evil report."

Your angel is always there to provide you a way out even of situations that seem to have no exit.

The greatest exit is the one from here to the eternal.

And the easiest glide there is catching the right wave (often through the Sacred Heart) of His Grace.

-- Michael H. Brown

[resources: A Life of Blessings]

[Note also: Michael Brown retreats: Connecticut!]

[Michael Brown's books]