Read Psalm 119:71 

"Happily ever after" belongs at the end of a fairy tale, not in a description of the Christian life.  

Life in Christ is real. It isn't plastic, it isn't stained glass, it isn't saccharine, it isn't fantasyland. In all my years of walking with the Lord, I have yet to meet one Christian who has "lived happily ever after." 

On the other hand, I have met a great many significant saints who have endured affliction, loss, disappointment, setbacks, failures, and incredible pain through the years. And I have seen many of those same men, women, and adolescents cling to their joy, radiate hope, and sustain a winsome spirit...even through heartache...even through tears...even at death's door. 

If you're waiting for a seamless, blemish-free week, friend, you're going to wait in vain. There is no such thing. 

And until we learn how to derive lessons from seasons of failure and loss, we'll keep repeating those failures—digging ourselves into an ever-deeper hole—rather than moving on as we grow up. 

Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way (Nashville: J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.