Why Can't Life Just Be Easy?

Have you ever asked yourself the question "Why can't life just be easy?". I know there are several times in my life that I have. I've taken a deep breath when I've received certain information, or when I've looked at a situation in my life and just said that question out loud. And it may not be in that exact moment, but what always comes to me soon there after is the answer ..."Because if life was just easy, how many people wouldn't have a need for Jesus at all?". It's so true too! It seems like it's when God starts blessing us and we are living on the "mountain top high" that we can forget that feeling of really "needing" Jesus.
I read recently that the mountaintop is a great place to be, but not a great place to stay. Because nothing grows on the mountaintop. It is in the valley where you find all the greenery, because it is in the valley where all the growth happens. Of course none of us like the valley because the valley is also where the tough times are. But it is by no mistake that we tend the grow through the tough times.Why is that? Probably because it is in the tough times when we do go to Jesus the most and we rely on Him the most.
When I think about what is produced during the hard times I think about being "under the fire".....refined by the fire. And I think about a beautiful piece of jewelry that you might see sitting on display at a jewelry store. When you see it there it is shiny, beautiful....pretty much perfect. But it didn't always look that way. That beautiful gold ring you see sitting there on display was once a lump of gold. Yes the gold still had value when it was a lump, but it wasn't very pretty. It wasn't something you were going to want to receive as a gift and wear around on your finger. It wasn't until that gold was put under extreme heat...put under the fire...that it was able to be melted down and made into something beautiful. The gold smith that worked on that ring knew exactly what he was doing and he knew exactly how much heat needed to be applied, how much working needed to be done and how much polishing had to happen to make that beautiful ring you now see on display. It didn't just start off that way, but through much hard work it became that way.
We are that lump of gold and God is that gold smith. When you are "put in the fire" of life don't be so quick to just want out....to just want life to be easy. Go to God and say "this may not be easy right now, but I know you are molding me into something more beautiful than before. I know that if I let you do in me what needs to, if I learn what needs to be learned, if I don't run from the heat, but instead withstand it...You will make something beautiful out of this". Trust God because in Hebrews 13:5 He promises "I will not leave you nor forsake you". He is faithful, He is true and He is always going to use the things in life to make us stronger, closer to Him and more usable by Him...if we let Him.
God, help us to not run from the fire when the heat of life gets turned up. Let us endure and trust in You. We all know we love living on the mountain with You, but sometimes we have to go through the valley so we can grow. Help us want the growth more than we want the mountaintop. Please quiet the lies of the enemy during these times in our life so we can hear You, and only You. And help us to KNOW that when we trust You we will come out on the other side a more beautiful version of who You created us to be. In Jesus name, Amen.