Trials Come So That....

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work in you SO THAT you may be mature and complete not lacking anything."

-James 1: 2-4

Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials. Pure joy? How on earth can we look at any and all trials and take joy in them? How can we go through something that makes our hearts heavy and consider it joy? And why on earth would God ever want that from us? Does He take delight in seeing us suffer? Of course not so why, WHY should we consider it joy? This verse alone has so much depth to it and honestly it has been one that has helped me get through these past several months.  But I don't think I fully grasped all it truly had to offer me until this very week.

For the past month now I have been working through the book, "Living So That" by Wendy Blight with Proverbs 31 Online Bible Studies.  It is an incredible book and one I hope you will read one day.  This week the topic is: Trials Come So That.  Every week we have a memory verse to go along with the study, one that includes a SO THAT.  And my mouth dropped open when I saw that this week James 1:2-4 was our memory verse.  I have come to hold that verse so close to my heart for the past 6 months or so.  And I have no doubts in my mind that I was meant to be pouring my heart over that verse every day this very week.  You see, we are coming up on 7 months of our family living apart.  7 months!!! I could have never imagined we would still be in the place we are in. I would have never imagined God would decide to make us live with our 'trial' for 7 long tiring months.  And these past couple of weeks I honestly thought He would show up and let everything just fall into place.  That we would be moved and living our happily ever after again.  But here we are, no offer on our house and still living in 2 separate places. And as much faith as I still have that our house will be sold soon, this week has been a hard one.  

Honestly I've been trying to stay upbeat and super optimistic for the past several weeks now.  I've been trying not to say "if" anymore but "when".  I've been packing up our belongs and getting into the mindset that soon we will be saying good-bye to our loved ones here in Litch and we will be on our way to start our new life.  But this week, man it's been tough.  I kept trying to consider it pure joy but then yesterday, I just couldn't anymore.  I was down in the dumps and just plain sad.  My heart hurt and I thought "God I can't keep being happy about this.  I can't say "when" today God."  So Maci and I loaded up in the car and headed out to meet the hubby for supper halfway.  And when we had to leave, Trav and I both looked at each other and without saying a word we could look into each other eyes and see how much it hurt to be saying goodbye.  That's not considering it pure joy now is it? 

Then this morning I opened up that sweet book I've been reading and it had me read the story of Lazarus.  (John 11:1-45)  And then God blessed me with a new outlook.  You see Martha and Mary asked Jesus to show up and save their brother.  They asked Him to come and heal him so He wouldn't die.  But instead Jesus waited...He waited until it was too late in Martha and Mary's eyes.  Because by the time Jesus did come, Lazarus had been dead a few days already.  Martha and Mary of course were beside themselves. Their brother died and Jesus didn't come like they asked.  When Jesus saw how upset they were do you know what He did? He wept with them.  He cried with them.  Why? Because He LOVED them and didn't want to see them hurting.  He knew the outcome but He still didn't like seeing their hearts hurt.  In verse 40 Jesus says, "Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?" And with that He asked Lazarus to come out.  Can you imagine Martha and Mary's faces?? They thought it was too late!! They thought they would never see their brother alive again! And there he was in front of them, Jesus had rose him from the dead.  You see Martha and Mary thought it was over.  Probably also that Jesus had forgotten about them and left them there to suffer.  But instead Jesus did more than they could have imagined and because of that all those onlookers who were watching came to be followers of Jesus.  

"....the trials and sufferings that enter into our lives come to bring about the glory of God and to point others to Him."

We can learn so much about trials and sufferings from this story.  We must consider it pure joy because we know that God is always going to win, He is always going to be there for us, and glory and honor will always come to Him through it. But that doesn't mean it won't be hard.  It doesn't mean we can't weep sometimes.  It doesn't mean we can never let God see how much it hurts because friend, He sees in our hearts how much it hurts and He weeps with us.  But let's not forget what's on the other side.  Let's never forget that in the end God will get glory from it.  Through our sufferings we will bring others to Christ.  God will use our trials and through us others will be able to get through whatever they are also going through.  God is at work during our sufferings, maybe behind the scenes but He is at work so that all glory and honor will be His.