There are times in all our lives when we have to go through truly difficult moments. Whether it's a difficult personal situation, something as serious as the loss of a loved one, dealing with a serious illness or personal tragedy, or maybe a situation when something doesn't work out the way you hope it would or want it to-maybe an important game that you don't win, a college you don't get accepted to, or a job you don't get-the reality is that tough times are inevitable in life.

So, how do you get through those difficult moments in life? How do you weather the storm and make it through the tough times?

When you're going through adversity, it really weeds out the unimportant things in your life, and it forces you to realize what truly matters. When hard times come knocking at the door, everything else goes out the window. All that remains in a person's life is the foundation that they've built for themselves.

That is where faith and family come into play. Without question, faith and family have to be at the foundation of every person's life. Regardless of what someone's religious background may be, everyone has to have something in their life that gives them a reason to believe that everything will be okay.

It is faith that provides us with the calming reassurance that everything happens for a reason, and that, in the end, everything will work out for the best. It is faith that tells us that we are going to be okay and that we are going to make it through whatever kind of adversity comes our way. Faith tells us that no matter how painful our despair, no matter how deep our wounds, and no matter how hopeless our situation appears to be…there is always hope.

It is a person's faith that offers that reassurance, and it is a person's family that provides the physical presence of that hope. When talking about the word “family,” it's important to understand that family doesn't just mean the people you're related to. It means the people who are important to you in your life. Family is your relatives and your best friends, it's the people you're close to, it's your teammates, it's your mentors, it's your coaches. In short, family means the people who matter to you, and the people to whom you matter.

It is family that you can go to when you're struggling and say, “I need help right now. I need you to help me through this because I can't do it on my own-none of us can do it on our own.” And it is family that rallies around you and says, “Hey, I'm here for you. Don't worry about a thing, because we're going to get through all this, and we're going to do it together.”

Whenever adversity strikes, the only thing you can do is turn to your faith and family, and rely on that foundation for strength. That's what you do when you're going through the hard times-you strip away all the other things in life and you lean on what really matters.