wisdomoftheholyfathers:

…these trials, these misfortunes are sent for our sins, for salvation and cleansing. And justly so, for we receive the due reward of our deeds… (Lk. 23:41). Every misfortune accepted with such an attitude is turned into a misfortune for the Lord’s sake; our personal cross is transformed into the Cross of Christ, and through it we are saved.

Abbot Nikon Vorobiev

Abbot Nikon Letters to Spiritual Children p.34

I wanted the path put forward by God to be a path of roses. Smooth and bright with sun. However, I was sadly mistaken. Christ calls us to a cross. He calls us to a path that is, at many times, shrouded in darkness. Yet it ascends, so subtly that it could be missed, toward Heaven.