Don't Fight The Fire
I watched a video the other day of a glassblower forming a beautiful art object. She turned it and twisted it, put it in the furnace and back out several times. She trimmed it, snipped and shaped it until she was satisfied the object met her specifications. Not once did that object jump off the forming rod and refuse to continue the process.
Of course, I realize that glass figurine is an inanimate object and not capable of making a protest. But, have you ever watch a blacksmith or farrier at work, showing a large 1,000 pound or more, horse? That horse is fully capable of kicking the blacksmith, inflicting harm and surely making the process uncomfortable for all. But, he submits to the work of the blacksmith's tools, and is therefore saved from a lifetime of sore feet. He is fitted with the proper shoes for the job he is called upon to perform, and is able to complete it without damage to his hooves.
Each valley experience, each trial, each test we go through, while not necessarily of God's choosing for us, will nonetheless help us to grow in our spiritual walk as we observe how He can use these very circumstances we find ourselves entangled in, to mold us into the vessel He desires us to be.
"Beloved, think it not strange the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." (1 Peter 4:12)
"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." - C. S. Lewis