A Sheer Gift?

James 1:2-4 The Message
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Sheer joy when you experience trials, struggles and hard challenges??
That's not my first thought when something rocks my world upside down.
I usually would want to scream, kick and holler "UNFAIR".

Other versions say consider it pure joy.
Am I missing something here??
You bet I am.

We face challenges throughout all our lives. Some are HUGE and some are quite miniscule.
The smaller ones are things like: I hope I can pass this test, I studied (or not).
I hope I can get this deadline done. I need to be in 3 places at once, how did this happen? I promised a friend I would meet them, and my child gets sick.
My appointment is running late and I have to pick the kids up at school.
These are things that we face daily. Often for me a challenge is what shall I make for dinner tonight.
To be honest, these type of daily happenings don't cause me sheer joy. More like aggravation.
But I'm told to consider it a sheer gift. OK, so now what do I do??
I learn to thank God for the inconveniences in life. WHAT? did you expect everyday to be perfect and run smoothly??

But what about the life alternating challenges:
Like finding out you have a life threatening illness like cancer?
When your child is arrested?
When you are told your job is being terminated?
When your spouse leaves you?
When you have lost a dear loved one way too soon?
When you don't have near enough money to pay the bills?
When your unemployment checks stop coming?

These are things that hit us like a ton of bricks and practically knock the wind out of us. When life is crashing down on you and you can't see or think clearly but are completely thrown off kilter.
Yet James tells us to consider these trials as sheer gifts.
Why? Because GOD HIMSELF is up to something in our lives.
And if you are like me, you want the easy way out.

"OK, so I will endure this, but LORD, just let it be over quickly."

Most often, it doesn't end quickly.
I remember (oh so vividly) the trial we had with our sons. I was shaken to the core and thought nothing could be worse. In actuality, God was beginning to prepare me for much worse. But I remember asking someone, "how long do you think this will last?"
He began his answer with "Probably about two...."
I was sure he was going to say months, instead he said "Probably about two years".
Are you kidding me? I can't do this for two years.
But I did. And it did take two years. Two very long years.
Two very long years I would not trade for the world. Because in those two years, I learned more of God's faithfulness, mercy, forgiveness to me than I had ever experienced. It was worth every agonizing minute.
Would I want to experience it again? Well no.
But I have experienced worse since then.
And I know that God has a perfect timetable for all we go thru.
We want the end result quickly; and in God's eyes, two years is probably very quick.
Its in those long days and nights, when we cry out to God and wonder if He even hears us, that He is working out His good and perfect will for us. He is making us mature and well-developed in all the ways that matter to Him.

So when life throws you the ultimate curve ball and your life is is completely side swiped, begin to think of it, as a sheer gift. One where if you start thanking God for, He will sustain you until this challenge passes.
Thank God for what He is doing right now. Thank Him for what He will be doing thru this, for what you can't see yet, but hindsight will show you later.
And whatever you do, don't be like me and try and get out of it prematurely. Let this trial, pain and struggle help transform you into the person Our LORD envisions you to be.

PS A tremendous book to me during some of my hardest times has been ,
"the Blessings of Brokenness" by Charles Stanley. I highly recommend it.

Come, Follow ME

Ahhhh LORD, sometimes it is just so hard to follow You.
It sounds so simple, right?
Just follow Jesus.
But WHERE are we going Jesus?? what if I don't fit in? what if I don't like it?? What if you have the wrong person in me??
That's what I want to do. With all my heart and soul. I want to Follow Jesus. I want to obey Him always. But yet, if I'm really honest, I have to say that sometimes its just really hard.
And sometimes its hard to figure out what HE wants me to do. Where HE wants me to be.
I started reading the Gospel of Mark today in my quiet time. And twice in the first 3 chapters, Jesus says: "Follow Me". Peter dropped everything and followed Him. So did Levi the tax collector. So why is it so hard sometimes for me, for you, to follow Jesus?
Is it mostly because we want what we want? Or is it because we are afraid of what He might ask us to do?? And really?? I think my life would be simpler, more enjoyable if I just followed Jesus. If I just kept my eyes on HIM all the time.
In the past couple of weeks, I have been hurt deeply by someone. And you know where hurt leads?? well for me its been to a couple of places?? One is completely doubting my self worth, who I really am, if I am of any value whatsoever to Christ and His Kingdom? the other place is to anger.
Oh how I hate to be angry. I hate how I feel when I am angry. I hate how it can consume me. Thankfully, I have walked with the LORD long enough to realize that anger only hurts me. And that I need to forgive. So if any of my summer staffers are reading this, I too, am now doing the Forgiveness Prayer. I know it works. I know that only because of Jesus' pure forgiveness of me, that I can forgive the one who hurt me. It just takes time.
I am the leper who came to Jesus and said, "Lord, if you are willing, make me clean".
I need to be cleansed by the blood of the spotless Lamb who gave His life for me.
I have a friend who has cancer and I read her blog this am. In the midst of her battling chemo and radiation, her body has suffered greatly. But she has never complained. She has used this whole cancer to draw closer and closer to Jesus. She is certainly one of my heroes. (You are the BEST, Lynn!).
I want to be like her. I want to draw closer and closer to Jesus ...in the midst of the pain I feel right now.
I want to Follow Jesus-even if it hurts. Even in the uncertainty. Even knowing that it might be really hard.
Why? Because I have learned and realized deep down in the core of who I am, that life apart from Jesus Christ doesn't make sense at all. Life with Him, might not make sense at times, but life with Him, always has hope. I can know assuredly that I am not alone. That I believe His words to me that say: "I will never leave you, I will never forsake you"
With having parents who both died, and friends that have too, with leaving lifelong friends to move to Woodleaf when I felt so alone; I know those words to be true. They have taken me thru some really challenging times. Jesus will never leave me or forsake me.
That's why I want to follow Him. Because He won't leave me. I will never be alone. I will always have HOPE. And if you don't know this...you need to meet JESUS and be comforted by His Love, His Grace, His Forgiveness and to know His Peace.
Come , Follow Me.
Yes Lord, I will. Even if its hard, even if it hurts, even when I'm scared.