When your faith is forced into the open

How often when life gets hard do we find ourselves griping and complaining.  If you are like me then you are trying to figure out a way to fix your problem or improve your situation.  It is really hard for me to "let go and let God" as some would say.  For the past little while I have been drawn back to the book of James.  It is one of my favorite books of the Bible because to as I read it I feel like James is speaking directly to me.

So this week I have jumped back into this book and love how the Lord is already bombarding my mind with thoughts, lessons, questions and encouragements.  Along side of my reading through this book I am working through a abbreviated study of James by Beth Moore done for the Master Work Sunday school material Lifeway puts out.   I have done the full study with the Beth Moore videos but I love how this material challenges me, and works  beautifully along side my studying the Bible.  It is important to me to be in the scripture and not just make all my study time a structured lesson someone wrote.  So as I am working my way through James I am using this material as a supplement, but my goal is to spend time focusing just on the verses and what God has to say to me.

This morning I was reading and focusing on verses 2-3.

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." 

James 1:2-3 (NASB)

In my supplemental material Beth says this, "If I were James, I'd tend to want to chat a while before counting it all joy when life pitches you into the food processor or breaks one foot and sprains the other.  If I was going to say it at all I would save it for the end.  Not James.  He wrote like a man scared of running out of ink."  I love this picture she paints because when life gets hard this is how we feel and then being told to consider it all joy makes us want to hit the person telling us to be joyful.  I also looked at the verse in the Message version and love how it added to my perspective.

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. 

You know that under pressure, your faith is forced into the open and shows it's true colors." 

James 1:2-3 (Message)

As I read this version the Lord really began making my brain think.  The end of that passage that says my faith will be forced into the open and it's true colors will be shown.  I began to ask myself what would that look like?  What would people see in me?  

As James calls us to joy through trials and struggles I realize that it is through these times where our endurance is built and made.  It is through these times where no matter how we try we are forces to let go and allow God to mold, change and make us into tools for His glory.  Endurance is not something you just have but it comes through hard work.  Take a runner for example.  I have a friend Jennifer who love to run and has done numerous marathons.  When she is preparing for a race she spends lots of time running.  Some of it is longer distances and some of it is shorter.  Over time she is able to push her body further as she gets stronger and builds up her "endurance".    Dictionary.com defines endurance as the ability or strength to continue or last; especially despite fatigue, stress or other adverse conditions.  Anyone who wants to run a marathon knows it is not just something you show up for to do but you need to plan and train for.

So as I looked at this passage with that perspective I began to ask myself, what am I doing to prepare my spiritual self for hard times?  What would people see if I was thrown into the food processor as Beth Moore describes?  As my spiritual / true colors come out what would people see.  On one of my praise CD's Beth Moore states that people don't care what we look/act like when we have it all together.  They look at what we are like when we don't.  

I realized as I read and meditated over this passage I realized that I want to live my life ready, knowing that hard times will come.  I will experience difficulties that I can't control or fix.  I want to be ready know that I have trained my head and my heart to truly let go and let God work.  I want the Lord to be the one I run to.  I want my heart full of scripture for those times I don't know what to say, feel or pray.  I want to use my praise music as a tool to spend time allowing the Lord to minister to me, encourage me and strengthen me.  As you read through James he is honest when he says that hard time WILL come.  It is not a question of it but when.  Are you ready?  I don't think I am but I know that my walk with the Lord is just like a runner.  It is daily training and time and as I grow and learn I am preparing my heart and mind for what the Lord knows is ahead.

I am excited for my journey through this book.  It really helped heal my heart and soul after a period during my life where I blazed a trail of wickedness behind me.  A time where I cast the Lord aside for the things of this world.  As I came back to my Lord seeking grace and forgiveness I found a book that ministered to me, grew me, helped me heal and learn that no matter how hard life seems that the Lord is always there to walk beside me each step of the way.