There are two sides to adversity. One side is positive and stimulates spiritual and emotional growth; the other carries the potential to defeat and destroy us. The apostle Paul gives us an example of the adversity in his own life and how he learned to respond to its presence. The Lord had given Paul a tremendous revelation of truth. He also allowed the apostle to suffer excruciating pain. “And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself