Marvel fans the world over were shaken when they learned about the death of Chadwick Boseman, the star of Black Panther. Death is always shocking, but Boseman's passing was all the more gripping because nobody knew what the star had been facing.

While filming for blockbusters like 21 Bridges, Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Marshall, Boseman was undergoing treatments for stage 3 colon cancer. He knew something about trials, and shared this wisdom in a 2018 commencement address at his alma mater, Howard University:

Sometimes you need to feel the pain and sting of defeat to activate the real passion and purpose that God predestined inside of you. God says in Jeremiah, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

Later, he continued:

… you would rather find purpose than a job or career. Purpose crosses disciplines. Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history. Your very existence is wrapped up in the things you are here to fulfill. Whatever you choose for a career path, remember, the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.

Then he concludes:

When God has something for you, it doesn’t matter who stands against it. God will move someone that’s holding you back away from the door and put someone there who will open it for you if it’s meant for you. I don’t know what your future is, but if you are willing to take the harder way, the more complicated one, the one with more failures at first than successes, the one that has ultimately proven to have more meaning, more victory, more glory then you will not regret it.

You can watch his commencement address here.