Have you heard someone say that they are doing well, under the circumstances? Usually they mean that there have been some difficult things happening to them.
How do circumstances affect people? When your team is winning, you get very happy and excited. When you get a good grade on a test everybody is pleased. When you get good news, little things do not seem to bother you very much.
The other side is when your team is losing, it is easy to get bothered by little things. When things around you are bad, the attitude changes quickly.
Children are often told that if you hang around a bad group, you will end up in trouble. The circumstances can control you.
What do you do about that? You can be careful where you go, and who you go with. But you cannot always control those choices.
Some bad things happen to everybody. Some sad things happen to everybody. But they do not control everybody.
The Christian knows that God is in control all the time. This does not mean that bad or sad things will not happen to the Christian. It means that He will always be with the child of God in good times and bad. Also in good choices and bad ones.
It does mean that circumstances do not determine your life. They should not control your feelings or your life. Jesus is the Way the Truth, and the Life. His truth always has the answer, even when you do not see it. You need to trust Jesus.
You set the priorities in your life. When you put Jesus first, your doing well will depend on Him and not your circumstances.