When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4
"When you grow up in a society that pioneered such things as instant messaging, instant pudding, Minute Rice, freeways, and fast-food restaurants, waiting does not come easy. If you must wait longer than thirty seconds for a Big Mac, you start glancing at your watch in agitation. And when later you develop indigestion, you grab an instant solution from the nearest medicine chest.
In this "aspirin age" of ours, we've also come to expect instant solutions to our personal pressures and daily trials. We don't want to struggle with our problems; we'd prefer to catapult over them. We want to smile and feel happy and say "Praise the Lord!" a lot. So we attend all kinds of Bible studies, victory rallies, youth camps, super Sunday seminars, and revival meetings to discover the spiritual key and the hidden verse that will help us combat "what's wrong" in our lives.
Yet, what's wrong is that we want answers--NOW! And if our youth pastor or minister can't provide them, we'll hop to another church to get the spiritual "fix" that hopefully-- for another hour, day, or week- will numb the panic and pressure we feel about school, work, personal relationships, our future, or our families.
The daily frustrations we want off our backs are the very things James says we not only ought to endure but endure joyfully. The joy comes from knowing that the difficulties we face help us grow up spiritually. In other words, negative experiences can produce positive results. The lives of Joseph, Sarah, Job, Daniel, and Paul from the Bible all attest to this.
I like to think of these experiences as pearls. Pearls don't just happen. To begin with, a grain of sand imbeds itself in the soft inner folds of an oyster, which in turn soothes the irritant with a rich body fluid. In time, and plenty of it, that fluid forms a smooth, hard surface-- a pearl.
And so it is with us: God is at work in our lives, turning our biggest irritants into priceless, one-of-a-kind gems. It's a time-consuming process that can't be rushed."
From The One Year Alive Devotions for Students by Rich Christian
Enough.
Said.
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ReplyDeleteThat's right, Sophie.
ReplyDeleteYou are in the process of growing into a precious gem. It takes years of cutting and polishing in the hands of an artisan for a diamond to finally emerge eternally radiant and crystallized.
Look outside the window. Look at that tree that has endured all those months of sharp dry cold winter. It stands upright and retains its deepest roots amidst a thousand species.
"But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold."
(Job 23:10)
Hang in there!
God lets you rest in green meadows; he leads you beside peaceful streams. He renews your strength.
God bless.
Apr 18, 2011;
when the branches swing gently in the blizzard..