Consider it all joy - Spiritual Reflections

I feel like I have been on an emotional roller coaster...worried about the future (and the present for that matter!), hopeful for things to turn around and improve, getting excited about the possibilities, then hope gets let down. I want to be able to see the bright side of things, focus on what is good, but this is a big enough let down that it will probably take a while to process it all and move on, trying to reconfigure things again based on the continuing realities of struggle. To put it briefly, trials are no fun.

However, James 1 tells us to "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,..." Now why would someone say, "Think of those bad things as wonderful things"? Was he crazy? No, he knew something good would come out of it, and he's not talking about things working out after all. Instead, enduring trials, with the Lord, of course, tests your faith, and "for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness". That's a good thing, right? Steadfastness means 1. fixed or unchanging 2. firmly loyal or constant, unswerving. A synonym for faithful. God is faithful, so who wouldn't want to be faithful? Don't we all want to be met by our maker God in heaven and have Him greet us with, "Well done, my good and faithful servant"?

But James doesn't stop there--"And let steadfastness have its full affect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Perfect. Complete. Lacking in NOTHING. Someday, I hope that I get to meet Jesus, who is perfect, who completes me, and when I have Him, I am lacking in nothing. So if trials make me faithful, and faithful will lead me to Jesus, well, then I guess I'm going to have to have a new perspective on these hard times...and consider them ALL joy.

Erin is a great source of joy in my life, despite her "two-ness".  It's hard not to smile around her. :)  I love how she finds joy in so many things, especially the simple things, like a pile of leaves in the yard.

Lord, I'm so feeble and prone to worry. I know you are faithful, but my sinner's mind is so tempted to doubt. Please strengthen me to be patient, to trust you, and to be content in all circumstances, as Paul was. I need you every hour.