Count It All Joy!

James 1:2-8 

 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.   But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.   For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;  he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

 

 I do my best to read My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers everyday and it always makes me think about my relationship with Christ, but today was a little different.  The daily devotion was titled The Explanation for Our Difficulties and  while of course it was all great, the following words tugged at my heart… “The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, and nobler men and women, or they are making us more critical and fault-finding, and more insistent on our own way. The things that happen either make us evil, or they make us more saintly, depending entirely on our relationship with God and its level of intimacy.”  These words reminded me of the words of a dear friend who said it is not about what happens to you, it is how you react to what happens to you that makes the difference.  God can and will use anybody and anything to not only get his message out there, but to also make us more like Him.  So maybe God is leading me to the answer of my question from the last post of ‘why?’.  Why do we have so many difficulties in this life? Could it be that these difficulties are the only way we can become the true man or woman that God created us to be?  I have lived on this earth for 41 years and through these years it has been through the most difficult times that my relationship with Jesus Christ has strengthened.  It is with each trial that I find myself changing and conforming more to God’s will---it is through these times that I learn to let go of what I think I understand and just trust God with everything I have in me.  Now do I enjoy these times?  No.  When things are going good, do I long for tribulation so that I can grow in Christ? No.  While we don’t want trials and tribulation to come our way, we still have to know that we know that it is through those times, it is through the flames of a hot fire that God molds us into his likeness and we are better for it.  And with that one of my favorite scriptures comes to mind…And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  II Corinthians 3:18