The last year I lived in Dallas, my roommates and I lived in a house that, to put it kindly, had seen better days. It wasn’t our first choice but the house we wanted fell through and we needed a place to live so we signed the lease. The rent was affordable, and we learned that it was because the management/landlords didn’t care about the property at all: the yard was overgrown, we learned that the roof leaked (after the first thunderstorm), the heat didn’t work downstairs (not something you check in Dallas in June), and we had a hole in the window next to the front door that you could reach through to open the door.
Before we signed the lease, we were assured that the management company was active and that the property would be taken care of while we lived there. It wasn’t. If I knew then what I know now about renting and leases and the rights of tenants, we would have never moved in, but we were young naïve students who still kind of trusted the world.
In the time we lived there the lawn only got mowed after five phone calls, the leaky roof “repairs” only moved the leaks to other parts, and when we moved out, they basically stole our deposit citing all the things like the leaky roof and the hole in the window. By the time I got word that they kept our deposit I was 2000 miles away and left it for my former roommates to deal with.
Through it all, however, we still had fun and stayed great friends. There is something about going through adversity together that creates strong bonds. You have this understanding, a shorthand, that is hard to explain to other people. As Christians, we are supposed to be empathetic to others going through hard times because we know of the suffering that happened on our behalf.
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, puts it this way,
“7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.”
If you are a Christian, you carry with you the understanding of what has been sacrificed for you. And even when earthly promises end up unfulfilled, you know that though you may be battered you won’t break because you carry inside you the love of Christ.