Taking the bad with the good: Not all of God's promises are for happiness and prosperity.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." -Romans 8: 14 - 18

I think that often as Christians, we (generally speaking) look at one of the promises here and overlook another not-so-pleasant to ponder promise. There is the absolutely amazing promise of adoption into the Family of God. Praise the Lord for His mercy and love to allow us such a blessing that we don't deserve. But what about the promise of suffering? How often do we look at our trials and moan "Why am I going through this? Why is this happening to meeeeee?" when the answer is right in front of us. BECAUSE we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, because we are in His family, we share in His sufferings... and afterwards we will share in the glory. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with asking God why. Heck, Jesus asked why when He was on the cross. "Why hast thou forsaken me?" and He knew the plan all along. But how often do we "cling to the promises" and "Claim the blessings" and yet gripe and moan when the sufferings that go along with the blessings and promises come too? I'm just as guilty of this as anybody so I'm preaching to myself really... may I someday grow strong enough in my faith to be able to look beyond the temporal things in life and see the eternal perspective, to trust Him that even the things I suffer can be worked together for good and to bring glory to His name.