Two high school juniors were walking to school, talking as two friends would. One had a black eye. I was the one sporting that shiner. The other was the one who administered the black eye. We both told our classmates the same story… I had walked into a door.
The reason for the necessary correction in the life of number one was that I had pushed number two too far. Everyone has a limit. That morning I knew what he’d done was right and so did he. No regrets from both parties and no change in our close relationship. He never mentioned that event to anyone else over the next five decades.
He called me a few years back to tell me he was dying and asked if I would preach his funeral. I cried, and true to form, he corrected me over the phone.
The Bible speaks of good affliction that happens between two individuals that love each other:
Psalm 119:71
It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.
Affliction is not enjoyable but very profitable. God uses it on His own for His own purpose and our benefit.
Give it some thought.
Gary