Amazing out of extreme stess

My first counselor introduced the concept of thriving fairly early in my healing process.  Most of my thinking at the time was could I thrive in spite of what happened to me?  Lately, I am exploring a different direction.....How can I thrive because of my experiences?

Nature provides plenty of examples of amazing things happening because of extreme stress.  On my photo blog I posted pictures of obsidian.  The first couple of pictures show the rubble of the small volcanic eruption from eon's ago.  Obsidian is formed as lava cools rapidly and forms the black rock that surgeons use that they are finding are finer and sharper than any surgical steel.  The black rock is used in jewelry adding a dark accent of loveliness.  I violent eruption is not usually equated with beauty and usefulness.  It is because of the eruption that obsidian is formed not in spite of. 

http://ruthmower.blogspot.com/2015/03/obsidian.html