Have you ever noticed?

This is an excerpt from a devotional I read every morning. It's just so perfect, I had to share.
Date: July 29, 2011

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials   1 Peter 1:6

Have you ever noticed how hidden in the midst of hard times are unforeseen blessings and unbelievable lessons? Recently my family went through a difficult situation - not any harder than others have experienced, and a lot less than some people have gone through - but that doesn’t lessen the pain. Coming through it, we learned some important things about ourselves and about our God, lessons that I never want to forget. God reminded me that I am very, very small in contrast to His greatness. It seems that when life is cruising along smoothly, I forget how truly small I am in this universe. In fact, there are times I think of myself as being kind of large and important – able to do things on my own with very little need to “bother” God. Small I am and small I hope to remain if it will enable me to experience God’s greatness and with it, His peace.
I’ve learned that not asking for help is one of the most selfish and self-centered things I can do. Being stoic and self-sufficient means that I keep others from being blessed as they help, and I miss the blessing of being helped. God provided help by unexpected and surprising means. It made me feel less lonely and encouraged me that we would get through this. Had I been unwilling to be helped, I would have missed out on some amazingly wonderful times in an amazingly uncomfortable period.
Lastly, prayer and the promises of God’s Word meant more to us than anything else. We knew there were people praying for us, and this knowledge made the situation bearable. I promised God that if anyone ever asked me to pray for them, I would – at that moment, throughout the day, and into the evening – like people did for us. I will never again take the privilege of prayer lightly; it is the most I can do for someone. It removes fear, worry, loneliness and helplessness and shines God’s joy and peace in their places.
I can now say that I am thankful for the trial we went through - the blessings outweigh the “light and momentary afflictions.” We are different than we were – and I’m glad. I like the change and am determined to remember what I’ve learned so the next time I will shout “hallelujah” sooner.