Outcomes of trials.

So yesterday I started to touch on the fact that I complain sort of a lot. Then, last night God continued to pound it into my head that I need to quit.

Last night I was at Bible study, and we were reading through James 1. This passage is one of my favorites and it holds so much wisdom for all sorts of encouragement. As a group all of us were saying different verses that spoke to us or different meanings we found to the passage, but I just couldn't get past verses two and three. They say:

" Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

I thought this was so great, because it kind of just hit me where I was at. It's so easy for me to complain and always find something that is wrong with life, no matter what. I pick at little situations and get annoyed that it's cold out, when instead I should be rejoicing that i'm not stuck in the snow/ice blizzard that is goin on back home. No matter how big or small an issue is, I can always find a downside.

Those verses just really spoke to me because they are talking about real trials. Not minute little details that I just pick at, but serious things. Like real struggles. Tough times. Not little things like the weather or how hard my classes are this week.

And the thing is, it isn't like God excuses complaining when times get hard. It's not like He says "oh yeah, that trial is really hard for you. I understand why you're complaining so much." Nope. Not at all. Instead, he said to consider those situations with pure joy. Not half hearted joy. Not forced joy that you don't really mean. But pure joy.

So that means to be fully and completely joyful about going through that hard time and those struggles, because you know God is doing it for a reason. God isn't going to just make me suffer for no reason, but by putting me through those trials He is helping me to build up perseverance. He wants me to get stronger and to be able to deal with those struggling times better, but the only way to do so is through experience. Through each hard time He is teaching me how to deal with them better, and how to make them more manageable next time.

When you think about it that way, and when you forget about how hard those trials can be, those trials almost look like blessings. Like God is taking the opportunity to teach you something to help make you stronger in Him! And as usual, nothing in Christ is easy and it has to be worked for. You've got to struggle and work through those trials and really persevere in your faith, and as a reward your faith will be strengthened.