How do you feel about yourself? Are you happy with who you are? Or do you sense the need for change in your heart? Most of us do. It’s frustrating, though, when change doesn’t come quickly. It causes us to lose hope that it ever will.
        It’s different with God. He has a purpose in allowing painful circumstances. That’s because He needs to deal with the weakness of our flesh. He must go deep within our nature to rebuild our character—a true change of heart. And this is a process He can accomplish by no other means than time and suffering.
       God’s purpose for creating us as He has sheds a lot of light on why He allows sin to be a problem. Understanding our freedom from the power of sin is so important! Why? Because through it God offers us unfettered relationship with Himself—in spite of ourselves—the true source of transformation.

From Free from the Power of Sin: the Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself