"Most believe there are two types of people who go into a crucible—the ones who grow stronger from the experience and survive it, and the ones who die. But there's a third type. The ones who learn to love the fire. They choose to stay in their crucible because it's easier to embrace the pain when it's all you know anymore." - Sebastian Gold

Has life given you an impossible circumstance? Have you landed in the crucible? In there, which type are you? Will you come out stronger, will you scorch and die away? Or have you just embraced it?

Sometimes there is a temptation to embrace your circumstances and believe things won't get better. To give up. 

As Dexter Morgan tells his story, he says, "I've lived in darkness a long time. Over the years my eyes adjusted, until the dark became my world and I could see." When you've been on the tunnel long enough, there's a temptation to give up on the light at the end.

In The Shawshank Redemption, Red says "These walls, first you hate them, then you get used to them, then you depend on them". Red gave in to the prison walls and couldn't imagine life outside anymore. Brooks, another person who embraced it, he left the crucible but didn't know how to live on the outside.

Don't do give up. The crucible is not the place to stay. It's not the end of your story yet, for there is life at the end of the tunnel, which you will see only if you keep going.

In the Bible we see another man who embraced the crucible.
One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”  (John 5:5-7 NIV)

He gave up on wanting to get well, and the whole idea of it. He only to get into the pool. But that too, he seems like he was giving up.

Not everyone wants to get well badly enough to do what it takes. Yes, sometimes it is not easy, and it takes a lot of effort, commitment and determination. I want to encourage you to hunger for better days, pray, believe... they will surely come.

Red and Brooks may have learned to depend on the walls, but Andy thought otherwise. As he said, "there is something inside that they can't reach". That thing is called hope. Keep that hope alive. Never let it die, it is what will enable you to come out stronger.

Micah held onto that hope.
But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. (Micah 7:7-8 NIV)

Whether it's is work, family, marriage or relationships, academics, finances, health or life in general, whatever your crucible is, I as of you one thing. Never give up hope!