Adversity can make you stronger (as it has, obviously, for Shawn).
Adversity can reveal the true and good quality of your character (as it has, also obviously, though in different ways,for Troy and Alan and Kevin and Julie and Foster and Formo and...well, come to think of it, everyone here).
The operative word in both sentences is "can." It is not "will."
As I age, I find that the people I respect most deeply have all dealt with adversity. Have all, by their actions and via their character, found ways to convert that "can" into "will."
Not always, of course. None of us is perfect. No one always deals with adversity well. Some of that scar tissue we get keeps the blood from flowing well, and makes us cynical and bitter and frustrated and angry and all the rest.
But those with true quality of character -- and that includes you, my zombieslaying friend -- survive the scars and bring themselves away better overall.
This I believe.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)