Dauntless~

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” 

~Winston Churchill

Through out life, trials and hardships are inevitable. These trials instill in us a fear of failure, because with any trial comes the potential to fail and become worse off then you were before. Trials in life can include the loss of a job, moving across the country or world, loosing a loved one, becoming ill, etc., but the choices that are made within times of trials are cornerstones to shaping a person into who they will become. Furthermore, the overcoming of a trail strengthens a persons emotional and mental strength, and, while not completely negating their fears, helps them to conquer future trials less hesitantly. Winston Churchill's words ring true, in that each decision that is made (especially those that are made within times of trail) has the potential to become a choice that deeply benefits and enriches a person, and will keep them on a steady forward-facing trajectory while they journey through life.

On February 28, 1944, in Amsterdam, the Dutch Nazi-police arrested Corrie ten Boom and her entire family for housing and helping numerous Jewish people escape. She was taken to a concentration camp and was able to stay with her sister. Before her sister died, she told Corrie, "There is no pit that so deep that God is not deeper still." In her life, Corrie ten Boom faced many trials. Her mother died when she was young, she risked her life helping and hiding Jews from the Nazis, she was arrested and placed in a concentration camp and several members of her family died while in the camp. It was, however, her decisions during these times that assisted her in her survival. First, Corrie ten Boom chose to help her family hide and help the Jews. However, her most important and hingent decision was to remain faithful in God. She had hope in him, she believed that he had a plan. She therefore chose to keep strength and did not drown herself in sorrows. When she was released from the concentration camp, she chose to move back to the Netherlands and set up houses for concentration camp survivors and jobless Dutch. Through her trials, Corrie ten Boom made decisions that shaped who she would end up becoming in the future.

Trials will come no matter where a person is, no matter how old they are and no matter how dejected and downtrodden they feel. Within these trials, that person is given opportunities to make decisions that will work towards pulling them out of their trials, or keep them in it. Choosing perseverance and HARD WORK, it is possible to overcome these trials and live in the fruitfulness and joy of a hard-earned and endured life.