Reconsidering the "Good Life"

I watched a show on t.v. today called "Surviving the Cut". It's a show about military guys going through special forces training. It kind of struck me how awful the training looked. It was worse than I even imagined it could be. Kind of like all your fears coming to life. There they were, pushing themselves beyond what even they believed was humanly possible, and there I was, sitting on my couch eating a sandwich. What surprised me about it was that even though they were completely stressed out and fatigued, both mentally and physically, they, for the most part, remained positive about the experience. Throughout the whole thing they seemed to repeatedly comment about all the valuable lessons they were learning. They talked about how this terrible experience was making them stronger.

I hear people say stuff like that all the time. It's all over facebook and television, and everyday conversations. "Its the tough times that make you stronger", "There is always a valuable lesson to be learned". These statements are to tough times as "..and then I found five dollars" is to bad jokes.

This is the question I have:

If everyone seems to agree that the hard things only make us better, then why do we continuously strive for a life of comfort?

I feel like the clouds have parted, and I can hear angels singing or something. Seriously, total epiphany. I can't help but to praise God for this thought. I mean, goodness. Think about all the places life has taken us..the times when we sat and wished for a better life. Would you change it? No. Your life is what helped make you into who you are today.

I know that now you're probably thinking, "So what, you want me to run into chaos?" I admit it doesn't make sense. However, it makes perfect sense if you include God. A life lived for God does not look like comfort, but like chaos. THINK about who you could be, about who God could make you into if only you ran into his storm! It will not feel very nice, you may feel scared, your body will probably hate you, but when you emerge you will be resilient like gold, and shining like the pearls of Heaven.

Amazing.

God's plan for us is so great, and so overwhelming, How could anyone live life only for themselves? How could anyone not give everything to follow Him?

Please pray that we can all dismiss ourselves and run to Him. He is beautiful.