A big difference exists between trying to manipulate God to give us what we want and cooperating with God so He can give us what He wants.
We need to learn how to give a defense for our belief in Christ without getting defensive.
God honors a beautiful blend of gift and grit! He gives the gift, and He expects us to have the grit to practice and learn how to use it effectively.
Be careful not to give too much credence to the old adage that time heals. Mark my word. It's God that heals. Time only tells.
We will never be more ourselves, with the fullness of our personality and the uniqueness of our gifting, than when we just wholly give ourselves over to our very faithful, faithful God.
If Jesus gives us a task or assigns us to a difficult season, every ounce of our experience is meant for our instruction and completion if only we'll let Him finish the work. I fear, however, that we are so attention-deficit that we settle for bearable when beauty is just around the corner.
We were created for the purpose of giving God's invisible character a glimpse of visibility.