Ordeal, an

Is over when we can be thankful for it

November 13th 2011
We may accept an ordeal and understand it but at the same time experience bitterness, sadness or regret: we think it would have been far better not to have been subjected to it! In that sense, you could say it is not yet over. When can we say a trial is over? When we are able to be thankful for it. On the face of it, we may have nothing to show for it; in fact, it may have caused us to lose many things, even people dear to us. And yet, after the ordeal, we sense that our light, our love and our strength have increased, and we are flooded with peace and joy. Only then can we say we have overcome the ordeal.