Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.
If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do-ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will give you wisdom liberally and He does not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you ask in faith and really expect him to answer, for a mind that doubts God’s faithfulness to act and answer is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything in the way of an answer from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds if they believe God or not. They waver back and forth in everything they do and are generally unstable. James 1:1-8
Trials increase our stamina, our endurance, our perseverance, and our tenacity, along with a host of other synonyms. They drive us to our knees in prayer.
We suffer for the purpose of sanctification, for the purpose of revealing Christ in us, the hope of glory. When we suffer and undergo trials, it can make us more like Christ. Trials give us backbone and strength and, above all, they increase our faith in God and His faithfulness.
My dear ones, do not fight against God in these trials. God is hard at work in your life through them. Believe Him and trust Him. You must now begin to act in faith, believing that God will answer your prayer. For the depressed person, this means that the pity party is over. You have to climb out of that hole you have been sitting in and begin to live life by faith. Recognize that no plan of God’s can be stopped, frustrated, or upset.
Do a Bible study on the attributes of God with an emphasis on His faithfulness. Memorize verses about the faithfulness of God. When the faithless thoughts begin in your mind, put them off and recite Scripture you have committed to memory. Then put on an attitude of faith, testifying to what God has done and is doing in your life and in the lives of others.
But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works. Psalm 73:28 (NKJV)