I used to confront problems head on. I was a person who would never sweep a problem under the rug. But this approach would leave the people around me hurting and it would create new problems that I had to confront again.
I had since changed my approach because of two important things that I've learned about God. First, I learned that God is in control and that He is aware of what I am going through. If He wants to, He can remove my problems, but if He does not, it means He is using them to teach me something important. Second, I learned that God as a Father will not allow me to go through anything that will not be good for me. So whenever problems come I would ask these questions:, "What is God trying to teach me? What weakness is He trying to expose? What good will this problem bring?" By doing this, I have learned to embrace my problems!
I would embrace problems the way Jacob embraced the angel who wrestled with him in Genesis 32:24-32. Even with a dislocated hip bone, Jacob held on to the angel and said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." In the same way now tell God, "Do not let this problem end until I learn from it." Weird, 'no? I pray this because I know that if I do not learn from my problems, they will come back to haunt me again and again. God has been using problems as His tool to grow me. He allows me to go through them to give me a chance to apply the things I've learned. In the process, I get to convert my knowledge into abilities that will prepare me for the opportunities He will send my way in the future. Problems are friends to those who want to become wise. So embrace problems as friends and learn from them.
