It seems counterintuitive at first - to be thankful for problems.
Most of us would rather not have so many, or so many at once (which in itself is a problem!), or problems that hurt deeply inside.
But imagine what your life would be like without those problems...
In fact, there was an episode called "Hells Bells" on the "The Twilight Zone" some years ago where a wicked man has died and goes to a place where there are no problems, where wishes come true, where everything is free, and there is nothing to work for, and nobody else to bother him - the only presence being a "groundskeeper".
"This must be Heaven!" he tells himself.
Finally, after several years and being bored out of his skull he admits to the groundskeeper "I thought heaven would be more challenging and interesting than this" to which the groundskeeper replies with a wicked twisted grin, "Heaven? This isn't heaven...
" The point, of course, that having everything without effort, thought, or companionship is truly Hell.
Without problems we cannot grow, or learn, or get stronger.
Without them we will never improve our relationships with others, nor will we ever build anything that matters, and while it is certainly possible to be overwhelmed by too many or too difficult problems, it is actually better to be overwhelmed, then to be empty of all difficulties.
In fact, the only people I know who have no problems on this earth are six feet under.
Like all things in this life, balance is needed - we have problems on the one side, so we need encouragement and enthusiasm on the other.
You may notice that is the way God seems to have made everything in this universe - using the balance of opposing forces.
Problems are no different.
When we have proper balance of problems that challenge us, and mentors, friends, family, etc.
to encourage us - we can do almost anything! So, if you are setting goals to achieve certain things, say a certain level of wealth for you and your family, then the only thing that is ever going to get you there are your solving of problems - the first one being, quite obviously, how are you going to get from where you are at to the successful accomplishment of your goals.
You need to go back to your life statement, that written sentence or two that summarizes your greatest purpose for yourself.
All problems need to be viewed first through the grid of your life purpose.
From here you can determine if the problem you are considering is even worth your time - is it something that you should not be worrying about? Is it something that you should not be involved in? Remember, if you truly have a real life purpose statement, it will force you to consider your every action from mental, spiritual, physical, reality-based, and accomplishment centered perspectives.
There are some problems that are simply our fault, and occurred because of our own bad choices - our life purpose statement helps us see this clearly, and when used properly, helps us avoid the bad problems...
Life Purpose Statements are a huge topic by itself so I won't address them any further here - but they are essential in "choosing" (if you will) "good" problems.