What Can Trials Do for Us?

100% of people experience trials in their lives.

Some may have more extreme hardship than others, but everyone experiences some sort of sadness, pain, frustration, grief, or anger because of something hard. We hear it all the time: “That’s just life.” 

Know that if you have or are experiencing hardship, you can give yourself space to grieve. Lamenting is a part of the process of handling destruction and pain in our lives, and it is how we can heal from difficult situations. 

As much as there is grief and sadness during trials, there is also hope and encouragement. Trials are good for us and can produce perseverance. Much of the fruit that comes from trials lies in how we respond to them.

If trials are inevitable, the question is not whether they will happen but how you respond to them and their effects on you. 

PsychCentral talks about how you can respond well during hard times. Some of these responses include:

Connect with community.

Remember not to walk through trials alone. Find people you trust to confide in and have deep conversations with. Maybe you will even find someone who can relate to what you are going through. Learning how to receive love and compassion from people during trying times is always important.

Let go of control. 

A need for control can prevent us from learning through our trials. If we are always focused on controlling a certain outcome, we forget to focus on the good in little moments. Letting go of control can bring freedom and help you grow in ways you wouldn’t be able to if you always sought to be in charge of the situation. 

Find a healthy way to express yourself.

Sometimes all we need is a way to display self-expression that is not harmful to others. Trials can cause us to hyper-fixate on what is difficult in life, but having a way to be creative can help calm our minds. An outlet that allows us to feel our emotions and discover more of who we are might be the best thing for us during hard times. 

Find purpose and meaning. 

Without taking time to truly think about your purpose, hardships can be hopeless and defeating. There is always purpose in what you are going through. It might be hard to see, and you might never have a true answer, but looking for meaning in difficult situations is still important. When you can find purpose, endurance is a little bit easier. 

Consider therapy. 

Going to therapy during hard seasons of life can help tremendously. Counselors want to support, listen to, and help you process complex emotions. Therapy can bring healing and help you overcome challenges in a healthy way. 

Healthy responses to trials can be extremely powerful. Enduring through difficult times is character-building and can have more benefits than we might think.

UW Health discusses that 70% of people who go through difficult times experience positive psychological growth. They feel a deeper sense of purpose, more appreciation for life, and greater empathy and desire to act for others.

Additional impacts that trials might have on us include:

Increased gratitude 

After enduring hard times, people are likelier to see the good in the little things. Every small thing becomes something to be grateful for. 

Greater perseverance 

You may have heard it said that trials produce perseverance. When you walk through something hard, you learn how to persevere. This then shapes your character and helps you better endure anything life throws at you. 

Deeper relationships 

Going through hard times often allows us to become closer to those around us. That may look like empathizing with someone who has gone through something similar or finding encouragement from someone who loves you no matter what mental state you are in. People often come out of trials with deeper relationships with at least one person, even if that means broken relationships with other people. 

More self-awareness

Trials cause us to reflect on our feelings and character and help us identity what brings us joy and what makes us sad. We learn more about ourselves by going through times of sorrow and anxiousness. We are forced to be in our thoughts and truly process with ourselves. 

Learning from mistakes 

As we go through hard times, we might say or do things we are not proud of. This is okay, as our mistakes lead us to grow and learn. Trials help refine our character because we can discover things that we do not want to repeat in the future. 

Yes, trials are scary and hard. When something is hard, it does not mean it is bad. Hard things can be very good.

Fire is what refines our character, and trials do the same.

Through trials, we can learn to respond in a healthy way and therefore learn healthy lessons from what we go through. Instead of letting your trials completely defeat you, find ways you can find purpose through them.