How you face it is another story completely. That should always be a given.

As children of God, great strength comes from the knowledge that God knows not only what is happening to us personally, but what is going to happen to us. Whatever you are going through, even though it came as a complete shock or surprise to you, God knew about it ahead of time. It is all written, the events of our lives -- the good, the bad and the ugly. God knows our trials and our tribulations because He is all-knowing. He is there for us to trust in and rely upon, going before us, standing beside us and He is holding us up and together at all times, giving us a peace that surpasses all understanding. It is a supernatural strength because it is God's strength. What strength we have, He gives us.

We fail only when we reject this, the reality of it and when we fail to acknowledge. This happens unnecessarily.

When we are met with what we perceive as unexpected trials, tribulations or conflicts, or when we are confronted by challenges, we should rely not on ourselves, not our capacity for compassion, or our eloquence, or our skill. It is God who made us and He made us, we are told, not for our own purposes, but for His. All things were created by Him, for Him and through Him. That All includes us, our life and our circumstances.

Our calling in life is to worship Him. Worship means to bow down. We are to bow our wills down to His at all times. The way to that is in Him, not in and of ourselves.

Oswald Chambers said, "The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us. We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them."