Why Must I Be So Tested Lord?

Isaiah 48:10
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

Today I was looking back at my journal entries, as I often do, to see how my growth in Christ has progressed through the years. As I read the entry from July 3, 2007 I read about the way I was struggling emotionally and feeling pretty useless. I wrote about the pressure of the world that was upon my shoulders, and about a lower neck vertebrae that was making my arms and fingers numb.

Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, I found myself under a spiritual battle from Satan's minions. Like a grape in a wine press, I was being squeezed a little more. I wrote that I prayed, and even fasted a few days to see if God would give me relief, but the pressure just kept getting worse.