Great mind thinks alike. I wrote one recent post questioning the purpose of life. On the very next day, a dear friend of mine posted an answer in her blog. Here’s an extract from MeariaMia’s blog.

1. Life throws us problems to DIRECT us.
Sometimes a fire should be lit under us to get us moving. Problems often point us in a new direction and motivate us to change. “Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways.”

2. Life throws us problems to INSPECT us.
People are like tea bags…if you want to know what’s inside them, just drop them into hot water! What do problems reveal about you? “When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy(a bit bizarre unless you’re super-duper optimist) because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience.”

3. Life throws us problems to CORRECT us.
Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure. It’s likely that as a child your parents told you not to touch a hot stove. But you probably learned by being burned. Sometimes we only learn the value of something… health, money, a relationship. .. by losing it. “It was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to the little things in life which we usually take for granted.”

4. Life throws us problems to PROTECT us.
A problem can be a blessing in disguise if it prevents you from being harmed by something more serious. Last year a friend was fired for refusing to do something unethical that his boss had asked him to do. His unemployment was a problem – but it saved him from being convicted and sent to prison a year later when management’s actions were eventually discovered.
5. Life throws us problems to PERFECT us.
Problems, when responded to correctly, are character builders. Your character is the only thing you’re going to take with you into eternity. “We can rejoice when we run into problems… they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us”