it's funny you should mention that...
last night i went to one of my old softball team's opening game. i was talking to kevin who took my place at first - he's an old friend and a great player (he had 2 hrs; one an inside the parker.)
he (and some of the other guys) wanted me to come out of retirement, but see, i used to be good, and now that i can't play at the (state championship) level any more, it's just frustrating for me. it's a trial. and i get to be really hard on myself, and don't enjoy it as much as i should.
but it's a funny thing about trials. after the game kevin was telling me and the mrs about a book he just read by cs lewis, about his childhood. it seems that cs had a tough childhood because he couldn't bend his thumb joints. it made it hard for him to throw a ball or really do any type of sports well, and you guys know that as a kid that would make life very hard, not just how the other boys would treat him, but how he would think of himself.
but cs liked to read a lot, and being a creative kid, he spent the time that he would have been playing sports (which is what he really wanted to do,) reading and writing.
as you all know, cs lewis became a great and famous writer, and arguably the greatest Christian apologists of all time.
So God used that infirmity, that trouble, for His glory, and for the ultimate benefit of cs lewis and people all over the world and of many generations who love and are edified and helped by cs lewis' books.
you are right, hooked, that God helps us handle what we're given, but even beyond that, he can turn a lemon into lemonade.