There is not a Christian alive who doesn't have their faith tested during their life. No one arrives in God's Kingdom with a faith that's been neatly packed away on a shelf for use only after death.
For some, their testing occurs—to use John Bunyan's terminology—in the town of Vanity Fair where a Christian must not allow material wealth to hinder his seeking after God. For others, their testing occurs in the Giant Despair's castle when death seems imminent. Still for others, they are tested by Mr. Worldly Wiseman who steers Christians into believing the world can relieve them of their guilt and shame.
The devil doesn't care if we're lured away from faith in God through dramatic or subtle suggestion. He only cares that our faith fails.
Likewise, it doesn't matter if we are tested by bombs falling on our homes or by tantalizing materialism. It only matters that we keep the faith. In this goal, all Christians alike are united. We are all called to practice the same spiritual movements away from temptation and towards God. Away from living to satisfy ourselves and towards living a self-sacrificial life that serves and suffers for others. Away from self-deception and self-reliance and towards repentance and asking God for help. Away from despair and hopelessness and towards trust in God and his ways.
All Christians everywhere through all time have done the same. It is why we can do life together no matter how weak or strong our faith, no matter our age or occupation, no matter if we are fleeing the country or building a house. We are united in practicing the same movements. We are all returning to the same position: on our knees before God. We are all learning to act like Jesus. And we are all encouraging others in this way as we ourselves receive encouragement.
So no one needs to feel guilty about not experiencing many physical hardships in life. God has chosen to bless them in this. Those who experience many physical hardships are blessed by God in other ways.
Nor need anyone feel ill-equipped to encourage someone undergoing trials even if they themselves have not experienced the same. If both the sufferer and the encourager are Christians, they are walking the same road together: away from the devil's tantalizing snares and towards God's truths and his righteousness. They are united, not necessarily by the same incidents in life, but by believing the same promises of God, and by being a part of God's transformative process, which turns both cowards and strutting little beasts into sons and daughters of God.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:3-9)
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