It recently hit me how much pain we each endure in a lifetime. Even wonderful streaks in life can be dwarfed by the loss of a loved one, major disappointments, or prolonged illness.

I couldn’t help but wonder where I could be right now without mercy and huge helping of growth.

Surely nowhere good.

If it was up to the old me, I’d be making a mess of my life. I would have quit college, been arrested for mayhem, and made a mess of my career. If I were married, it would be a train wreck of immaturity and self-righteousness.

I would be a slave to self. And it would be pretty ugly.

The rough things I have seen, chosen, or endured would have taken their toll on my sanity, my body, and my attitude.

I should be a messy, unreliable, emotionally unstable, bitter shell of a man.

This realization wells up a huge sense of gratitude for what God has done in my life. Not because of me — despite me.

I am a walking billboard for God’s power to change people for good. The small parts I played were faith and the willingness to grow through each trial. The trials chipped away at me until I began to embrace brokenness.

Brokenness is terrifying.

Yet now it is obvious. It was the only path toward growth the entire time.