How can you be joyful in the face of grief and sorrow? It doesn’t make sense. The world definitely doesn’t offer or understand this, and even many Christians are perplexed by this thought. The world tells you to hate, reject, or identify with what has grieved you. The Lord instead says that it is a tool in His kingdom to produce endurance and maturity in you.

Many Christians have heard the reference of God’s kingdom being an “Upside Down Kingdom.” Things the Lord does can seem backwards or contradictory to how it should work in our minds. We can’t fathom how suffering is good for us or why God calls us to be humble when it hurts.