Hardships often prepare ordinary people for extraordinary destiny

This is one of my favorite quotes by C.S. Lewis, who’s quite a hero of mine. He is one of the rare, beautiful people who didn’t just follow his dreams—he made a difference, and still does today. He has inspired countless millions with his writings. He was my inspiration to write The Aletheian Journeys. But it wasn’t just his allegory that inspired me… but his drive to change lives for the better.

The reason I like this quote is simple: Hope. The hope that even though we’re going through something awful… that something beautiful can come of it. That we can grow through our trauma, our heartbreak, our losses, our suffering, into something extraordinary. That the hardships we go through can have meaning, and that we can pull through them and shape our lives for the better.

We are all called to something extraordinary. There is healing from the hardships we experience. When we are at our lowest… that’s when God is the most at work in our lives. Hope gives meaning to our suffering. Hope is redemptive.

I truly believe that all of us are called to an extraordinary destiny, that each of us can make the world a better place. And that means something different for each person. Hope is the ability to be mindful of what has happened in the past but also to look forward to the future. To know that, no matter what you’ve been through, there’s a reason for your existence. Your life has purpose, and it matters.

There’s something hopeful about knowing that we, as ordinary people, can have an extraordinary destiny. That even though we may think of our lives as mundane or boring, we don’t know the impact we can have on the world.

Saint Mother Theresa said, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” Trust me. That can be the most extraordinary thing. To just love God, love people, love yourself. That little bit of gentleness, kindness or compassion that you put into the world… it means more than you’ll ever know.

You might not know how much you’ve helped people until you get to Heaven. But you can catch glimpses of it when you get that feeling where you know you helped someone. And when you do that, you’re helping them to see Jesus, even if you don’t know it. Because they are seeing Him in you.

I don’t know C.S. Lewis. I won’t meet him until Heaven. But, I’m starting to understand the way he thinks. He loved to write, and he loved to help people. He took a look at the world, and he saw the suffering and heartache in it. And it’s only when you take a look at the suffering in the world that you start to realize the truth.

We all must endure hardship. But we stop being ordinary when we realize that loving like Jesus is the most extraordinary thing of all.