What’s the worst travel experience you’ve ever had?
I have had not one but three: a devastating traffic accident in Malaysia — serious injuries on our side, fatalities on the other; an airport transit that became a nightmare drive to our hotel through a city under curfew after terrorist attacks in Malina; and a stolen wallet in Italy — identity, credit cards, cash gone — leaving me stranded in trouble. These were the worst travels of my life.
I had travelled with precautions. Reality taught me that precautions are no complete shield against harm. Those ordeals were dreadful, driving life to its breaking point. No one would wish for them — yet some never got the chance to rewrite their lives.
By grace, I rose above the challenges. Through tougher trials I grew wiser: enduring hardship, developing perseverance, healing wounds — my own and others’. Since God has comforted me in all my troubles, I can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort I myself receive from God (2 Corinthians 1:4).
Personal suffering, I see, is a necessary prerequisite to counselling and helping others. Adversity has made me a wounded healer — able to echo the wounds of failing teens, suffering patients, and anxious souls.
In deeper meditation, I see that blessings are often disguised as calamities, and that faith is the staff in a believer’s hand. May the poem below walk with you in reflecting on life’s adversity.
…
“Is It Calamity? Or Blessing?”
Taken as slave — seemed a curse;
Raised to chancellor — truly a blessing.
Eyes cannot see, yet the heart perceives;
Master the self, and turn the tide of fate.
Winners become kings, losers become outlaws —
Who is this man? It is Joseph.
When fortune turns, discern the signs;
Accept adversity with grace, and rise from low to high.
When evil comes against you, overcome it with good;
Take Joseph as your mirror — believe, and it is blessing.
Faith births patience, patience births wisdom;
Wisdom conquers suffering — sanctity is within your grasp.
