Pastor Paul & Friends at "The SUB"

God has a purpose behind every problem.
He uses circumstances to develop our character.  In fact, he depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than he depends on our reading the Bible.  The reason is obvious:  You face circumstances twenty-four hours a day.
Jesus warned us that we would have problems in the world.  No one is immune to pain or insulated from suffering, and no one gets to skate through life problem-free.  Life is s a series of challenges.  Just about the time you deal with one quandray there is another one stepping right in there to take its place.  Not all of them are big, but all of them are significant in God's growth process for you.  Peter assures us that problems are normal, saying 'Don't be bewildered or surprised when you go through the fiery trials ahead, for this is no strange, unusual thing that is going to happen to you." 
God uses problems to draw you closer to himself. 
Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days-when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when your're out of options, when the pain is great-and you turn to God alone.  It is during suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heartfelt, honest-to-God prayers.  When we're in pain, we don't have the energy for superficial prayers. 
God could have kept Joseph out of jail, He could have kept Daniel out of the lion's den, He could have kept Jeremiah from being tossed into a slimy pit, and the apostle Paul from being shipwrecked three times.  God could have kept the three Hebrew young men from being thrown into the blazing furnace and to keep them from all of their calamities--But He didn't!  He let every one of those problems happen and every one of those persons was drawn closer to God as a result.
Problems force us to look to God and depend on him instead of ourselves. If you look at the world, you'll be distressed.  If you look within, you'll be depressed......But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest! Your focus will determine your feelings.