Everywhere that we see adversity, challenges and hardships, our soul sees an opportunity for healing, the expansion of consciousness and enlightenment , hammering you just as a blacksmith hammers metal under the challenge of extreme heat, strengthening us and making us malleable so that we have no choice but to be moved and shaped into something different, stronger, more beautiful than we were when we came into the situation.
The challenges that we face and the way in which we face the adversities that are thrust upon us define us as individuals, giving meaning to who we are and why we are here and enabling us to achieve the objectives that we set up for ourselves during the pre-birth planning stage.
Our ego too often defines us by our material worth or superficial successes which give us our status amongst society but the soul has a different agenda entirely. The soul cares nothing for stroking the ego and its suffering, only that the challenges that an individual faces refine and strengthen them, leading to purification so that eventually the personality might finally become worthy of serving the souls purpose.
With this in mind we need to remember that whenever we ask ourselves why we are facing our particular challenges, that it is only the hammering within the fires of physical incarnation that strengthens and refines us and that the happiness , comfort, success and status that we so desire are simply optional extras along the way...nice but not important for growth.