This is an excerpt from my up-coming book.It is still a work in progress and is as yet untitled.

My niece just started learning how to walk. She is without a doubt a most adorable little girl, and people always want to just pick her up and cuddle her, just for being so cute. I’m afraid she got a little spoilt in that regard. So when the time came for her to learn how to walk, she didn't really want to exert herself--all she had to do was raise her arms wanting to be carried and someone usually obliged her.
But how was this going to help her learn how to walk? She needed to learn how to stand on her own chubby little feet. So no more carrying, no matter how much she cries, so far as she hasn’t put in any real effort into learning how to walk, her  mother insists, no one should carry her.
At first, she didn’t understand why it suddenly seemed as though no one wanted to carry her anymore. She cried, she sulked, she threw tantrums, and as much as it broke our hearts to see her cry, we understood that this needed to be done.
Now her mother was always nearby, you know, in case. She just never hovered. She always picked up the little girl when she got tired after trying so hard, although the child was probably too tired to notice.
From my niece's point of view, she had two choices, learn how to walk, or stay in one place, which wouldn’t do at all. So since no one (it seemed) was willing to carry her about, she decided she would get around by her very own self, thank you. She dragged her self, she crawled, and she toddled and fell, toddled and fell so many times. But most importantly, she always got up and tried again. Till she finally  took those first crucial steps (and were we ever rooting for her), all the way till she  learned how to walk! And, oh boy! Now that she can walk by herself, she just can’t stop! She’s usually running all over the place, refusing even to be picked up.
Sometimes, that’s the way God sees us, like a little child learning how to walk. When we pass through difficulties, were simply learning how to stand on our own two. God wouldn’t be helping us by stepping in and solving all our problems or carrying us as it were, when he has given us abilities, which we haven’t even put to use yet. Haven’t you ever wondered why often, it’s during hard times that we discover certain abilities we never knew we possessed? The hard times make us grow. Like fire shapes metal or something as delicate as glass and purifies gold, the metaphorical fires we pass through could shape our character, burning away the impurities, till only the precious material is left. But that is only if we let it.