Sometimes I want to distance myself from negative people to try to grow in my faith. I feel like I can’t fully be faithful if I’m surrounded by those that try to stifle me. But I realized that maybe the people I try to distance myself from might be the people that God brings to me.

I began to understand that God doesn’t bring always us to the easy places. Although we may not like it, God may bring us to the hard places, the places we try to avoid. It may be an opportunity for us to grow in our faith and stand up with conviction, and to become stronger through experience.