count it all joy

There are a couple of niggly verses in the New Testament that always seem to make me squirm a little. Just when I am on the verge of complaining quite loudly, James pops into my head and reminds me that not everything that happens to me is “an attack". I don't know about you, but I have had an abundance of trials of many kinds that feel like a relentless assault on my body, mind and spirit. Lately, I have been presented with a cornucopia of faith-testing circumstances, many of which have left me battle weary and depleted in every area. It's exhausting. In spite of my circumstances, I have also learnt these verses have rung true on more than one occasion. I don't think my perseverance can ever be questioned in light of my ongoing physical issues, but sometimes I just want to be able to forget them, if only for a few moments. The truth of these verses is pretty specific as well. Pure joy. Trials of many kinds. It means I don't get to choose which trials to be joyful in. What it says is I am to consider all trials in the light of pure joy knowing that at the other side of the trial endured with a joyful attitude, will come a reward I could never understand at the beginning of the trial. These verses also teach us that we are indeed supposed to “grow up" and not remain immature in our faith. In all my years of walking with the Lord, there has never been an increase of my faith without a trial to accompany it. I don't know who needs to hear this today but it has seared my own heart with assurance that whatever I face, there is a plan and a purpose far beyond my ability to understand. 

James 1:2-4

“2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”