Even in the middle of the worst circumstance, God promises hope and joy.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds." James 1:2
Yep. You didn't read that wrong. Find joy in the hard times. Why? Because how can you grow as a person if you have never had a challenge. I remember growing up playing Madden football on XBOX. I would put it on the easiest level and then change the sliders so my quarterback wouldn't miss a throw or my receiver wouldn't drop a pass. Don't forget, my running back couldn't be tackled. It was fun dominating the other team and scoring like 100 points but after a while it just got old. I wasn't challenged by the computer so it wasn't fun. There is nothing more fun than kicking the game winning field goal at the last minute because it was such a hard game.
That's how we should live our lives. What's better than going through a tough time and in the end saying, "Wow, I really needed God there." What's better than that is figuring out why you went through that hard time. This isn't always known but you always know what you have learned from it or what area of your life has improved. Maybe that's why you had to deal with it.
I can say myself that I have been through plenty of tough situations and doubted how they would turn out only to find that the whole reason I went through that situation is I needed to grow in a certain area. Remember when you kicked that last minute field goal or scored that winning shot? You jumped up and down like a lunatic and had the biggest sense of accomplishment. Why aren't we doing that after we have learned something about ourselves and watched a situation make us grow? We should be.
The next time you face a trial keep in mind the verse in James and think about what you have the opportunity to learn.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds." James 1:2
Yep. You didn't read that wrong. Find joy in the hard times. Why? Because how can you grow as a person if you have never had a challenge. I remember growing up playing Madden football on XBOX. I would put it on the easiest level and then change the sliders so my quarterback wouldn't miss a throw or my receiver wouldn't drop a pass. Don't forget, my running back couldn't be tackled. It was fun dominating the other team and scoring like 100 points but after a while it just got old. I wasn't challenged by the computer so it wasn't fun. There is nothing more fun than kicking the game winning field goal at the last minute because it was such a hard game.
That's how we should live our lives. What's better than going through a tough time and in the end saying, "Wow, I really needed God there." What's better than that is figuring out why you went through that hard time. This isn't always known but you always know what you have learned from it or what area of your life has improved. Maybe that's why you had to deal with it.
I can say myself that I have been through plenty of tough situations and doubted how they would turn out only to find that the whole reason I went through that situation is I needed to grow in a certain area. Remember when you kicked that last minute field goal or scored that winning shot? You jumped up and down like a lunatic and had the biggest sense of accomplishment. Why aren't we doing that after we have learned something about ourselves and watched a situation make us grow? We should be.
The next time you face a trial keep in mind the verse in James and think about what you have the opportunity to learn.
