Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5)
Plain lettuce can be boring. A good salad has several ingredients. So does life. New life in Christ begins with grace - God giving us the privilege of becoming His children through by faith in Christ. We then have peace mixed in, along with joy. But we don't just dump in those ingredients, we mix them around, "tossing" them together. Sometimes the tossing seems almost violent, but it develops our endurance and character, and another ingredient appears: hope. I like meat on my salads, and the meat of this tossed salad is love. It is what gives us the energy. Then we pour on the dressing, mixing it throughout the salad. The Holy Spirit covers each and every part of this life salad. Today you might be going thorough the "tossing process". Do not be discouraged or alarmed. Think about the end product - the creation God is making in your life. It will be a well-presented masterpiece.
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