Tag: faith

More

We live in a world that feels like there is always something ‘more’ to be acquired. Something more to be bought. Something more to be done. Some might call it greed at first glance, claiming that we are never satisfied with what we currently have and are always desiring what someone else has that we don’t yet have.

Some blame social media and how easy it is to fall into the comparison trap. Some might say we are all a sinful, greedy, and jealous people who need to rid ourselves of such self- centered sin. The spiritual side might reveal the obvious that we have the God- shaped space within us that can only be satisfied with a personal relationship with God to bring us the ultimate satisfaction and deliverance from the pursuit of more.

While I agree with all of the above to one degree or another, let me pose a different perspective. One that has struck me since the passing of my father last year. What if just maybe, God has designed us with this “more” factor; this hard wired in our personalities, or spirit’s to desire “more”. What if we have been given this innate sense that there IS more to this life than this moment and place in time.

It makes sense to me when I think of the delicate and intricate patterns within the physical design of our bodies. The complexity and functionality of the cell, multiplied many times over with slight variations according to a cell’s purpose. Our bodies work like well- oiled machines and mini factories if you will. I am convinced this complex and wonderful design is not by chance or evolution. Several examples of these cellular factories demonstrate an interdependence upon being formed at the exact same moment, otherwise one part would cease to exist, preventing the proper function of another part. They simply had to be created at the same moment, and not by evolution.

Given this wonder and miracle of human design and mankind’s ability to reason, communicate and have self- awareness, our lives surely are worth more than a compact 70 years (if we are fortunate) and then a complete and total obliteration into the nothingness of the cosmos. We are made for more, not less than our design value.

I have seen the great cathedrals and castles of Europe and the great houses and monuments here in the United States and they have long outlived their builders, but even with the great works of architecture, there was a builder and designer.

Mankind is given a gift to design and build and imitate our Creator, but we are also created in His image and created for not just this limited life, but an after life, an eternal life.

This is what I believe we are looking for and sensing, that there is more. There is a sense of right and wrong (a moral law) that is also given to us by our Creator. We have very similar senses of right and wrong regardless of cultures. There are cultural differences, please don’t get me wrong, but as philosophers like to term it, “gratuitous evil” is not acceptable in the majority of worldviews. Where does this come from? It is not left over from a survival view, since the survival of the fittest, tends to eliminate the weakest first, but actually cannot be demonstrated. Evolution is a theory, not a proven fact.

So what if we are designed for more? Preprogrammed to hold fast to the notion that this life is not all there is. That for a loved one to be separated from us through death, feels wrong, because it IS wrong. If we are designed in the image of God, than doesn’t it stand to reason that we can be eternal as well, that there is more to us than the physical shell that holds within it a body, but also a spiritual and mental capacity dimension that is held within yet not anchored with the physical body? When we die our spirit and soul lives on as our physical form dies.

So, is this desire for more come from a place of wanting the wrongs of this world made right, for justice to be served and recompense given? For a reuniting with our passed loved ones? Is this why we grieve? Is this why we pursue acting well as a responsible person? Do we deep down know there is more to come than our current state? I believe there is. Just something to ponder for today. God Bless, Nancy

The Least of These

The King will reply, ” I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” Matthew 25:40, NIV.

Recently, my husband and I had the opportunity to view a new film on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you get the chance to see it as well, I highly recommend it. It is very thought -provoking as it presents Christians with a dilemma whether to quietly abide by rules imposed by a manmade government or follow and stand up for biblical principles, at the risk of arrest and death.

The question also raised is whether it is right to take a life if it is done to save the lives of others. Bonhoeffer wrestles with this decision, but ultimately joins a group of both clergy and citizens opposed to the government of the Nazis that attempts to assasinate Adolf Hitler.

This poses a very ethical and moral question as to the responsibility of Christians to stand against a government that is harming others, and even to consider stopping the harm by whatever means. This is of course is an option that Bonhoeffer willingly follows, but when the attempt on Hitler failed, Bonhoeffer and other pastors were arrested and Bonhoeffer was executed by hanging, days after the Second World War officially ended. It is a sad story, but we have to find hope in the actions of Bonhoeffer and other pastors who brought to light to churches in the United States and England what was happening inside Germany and for their bravery in rescuing many Jews and bringing them to safety. Bonhoeffer writings are still available and we are privileged to be able to read them and learn of the tragic events of Nazi Germany.

Can such history repeat itself? I believe so, as the heart of man is above all else sinful and bent upon satisfying its selfish desires. My question is when this next event happens, will the clergy and members of the church stand with the weak? Generally speaking the bullies of the world tend to pick on those weaker than themselves. This bullying the weak, makes them feel strong and powerful and capable of anything and ruler over everyone with a constant hunger for more and more to gain and rule over.

When we look at the verse above out of Matthew’s gospel, we understand it as a parable taught by Jesus about Himself. He will inherit the Kingdom from God, and will separate the sheep from the goats. The goats are those who basically ignored other people and failed to offer help, in this case, food, water and shelter (verses 31-46). Jesus refers to even the righteous as belonging to this group of goats, implying the religious leaders of His day. These religious leaders will ask, when did we see YOU Lord as thirsty, hungry or needing to be welcomed as a stranger? His reply was that if they saw people fitting this description and failed to help, then it was if they failed to help Him. The fate of these goats? Well read verse 46.

I think the above parable from Matthew is fitting to read and ponder, on whether we could consider ourselves as a sheep or a goat. What would we do if we were faced with a similar situation as Bonhoeffer. Stand by quietly while innocents are rounded up, arrested and killed, or recognize all men as created in the image of God? Would be quietly agree with this happening by not voicing an opinion, making us complicit of the violence? Would we be willing to risk our job, home, family and even our lives to be against such actions?

Sadly, I am beginning to see an attitude of hatred, and bigotry in my own country that takes me afraid. And I am not the only one who thinks this way. Pastors are beginning to take notice and speak against bully attitudes and I applaud them for this bravery. Churches should be places of safety where everyone can come hear the saving message of the Gospel. Churches should be teaching biblical principles and following them themselves to give the thirsty drink, and to the hungry food, and to the stranger, a welcome and a place to stay. This is what Jesus taught and wanted us to follow. We were once enemies of God and yet God sent Jesus to die for our sins, while we were still sinners, not before we got ourselves all cleaned up. Luke’s Gospel tells us that Jesus forgives those who call out to Him and recognize He is their savior even when they are criminals (Luke 23:43) May we also have a heart like Jesus.God Bless-Nancy

You Are Loved

So, I’m probably going to date myself with this question, but here goes. Do you remember hearing about people who left their homes and jobs to go “find” themselves? I’m not really sure when this phrase appeared, but I just remember hearing it. There was a sense that these people were burned out with the 9-5 work or school, or whatever and needed to take a break in order to explore the real meaning to their life.

I think it has always been around to some degree or another. People wonder if there is more to this life than being born, living, working and then dying. They ask questions like why an I here? And what is my life about? Some might call this search finding philosophy or exploring spirituality or considering one’s existential reality.

From a Christian perspective, it is searching for God, but in a theological understanding it is realizing that God has been calling and initiating the search rather than the other way around. It’s pretty clear from the Bible, that God initiates the relationship with His creation. Genesis records the creation of the universe and all that is in it, including this little marble- sized planet we call home (so, I know its bigger than a marble, just thinking in relation to the other planets, we’re pretty small). Anyway, God created mankind, which if you are reading this, and unless you are AI, you are a member of mankind. This amazing pinnacle of God’s creation. We have intellect, communications, rationality, morality, and we use all these traits to communicate, rationalize, moralize and think with others and we are also in this unique way, able to communicate with God, our creator. He designed us this way. We are not on the same level as the animals, or birds, or reptiles, or insects, or fish. We are commanded and given the job to have dominion over these humble creatures. Before, you suggest that means we can do whatever we please, the word dominion as it was understood from the original language of the Bible means mankind acts as a protector of the animals, or caretaker if you will.

But I am just pointing this out so you can begin to understand how we are made and who we are. We are not merely another form of animal, we have much greater traits and attributes and are given a very important role in this world. This might sound vaguely familiar to you if you grew up understanding the belief in God as creator. For those of you who read this and do not have a Christian background this might be the first time you’ve heard this explanation of how mankind was created and how we differ from other mammals.

What does this mean for us, for me and for you? First of all it’s a place to begin to understand who you really are. Everything and everyone around us tries to tell us who we are and define us, yet, if you remember my previous blog (Factory Reset) I mentioned that what we need in the New Year is to get back to basics, back to the Bible. So, my challenge for this week, is to understand who you are, not according to what job you hold, your social or economic status, your marital status or even what church you attend or don’t attend, but to understand who God says you are.

And the first item I want you to consider in defining yourself is that YOU are loved. No matter where, when and to whom you were born to, whether you were adopted or forgotten, YOU were loved. God created YOU. For a reason, God is love and He decided to create mankind in His image. He didn’t need to, for He was complete and lacking nothing, yet He decided the earth needed you. Pretty cool, huh? Just remember that who you are is this You are loved. -God Bless, Nancy

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him -Jn 3:16-17, NIV.

Factory Reset

It’s that time of year again. A time for resolutions and the focus on self- improvement. At the start of the new year it seems like everyone is trying to make up their New Year’s resolutions and the promise to themselves that somehow this year will be different than the last year. We promise ourselves that we will exercise more, budget our money better, learn a new skill, take that trip, and improve- whatever that might look like to us.

We start the year off strong, keeping those new promises, going to the gym, saving our money instead of wildly spending it, signing up for classes and beginning planing our trips by doing research online. But, slowly as January marches into February and February turns into March, our resolves to keep these promises tanks.

So, maybe this year we need to approach this differently. Not try to improve ourselves, not try so hard to change who we are, but give ourselves some grace. Change can be good, don’t get me wrong. And trying to be a better person; kinder, more generous, more patient is a good goal. The problem is this will not happen overnight or in a few months or weeks. Maybe the change isn’t manifested by trying to do or act in a new way, but returning to what we used to do, before life seemed to get out of control. I mean if we are honest, that’s usually why we want to change, or make these resolutions at the start of the new year, because we see our lives and ourselves as out of control, our control. And to be truthful, everything is beyond our control. There is very little that we can control in this life. And that feeling of being not in control is frightening. And our resolutions become a way to gain back what control we believe we should have.

Honestly, we are in control of what we eat and how we choose to exercise or not exercise, that is in our control, but those stressors that bring about our bad habits of eating and laziness(the not exercising part) are not. It’s just how we respond to the stressors that is in our control.

I was reminded this week as I began searching for a bucket list trip for this new year, the importance of not doing something new, making unrealistic changes, but just how much I needed a reset. To get back to the basics, before life got so stressful and I began to believe it was all out of control and I needed to get it into control.

As I began my trip search I noticed that every time I selected a hotel from the list of possibilities and than went back to the search list, the filters I had selected to narrow the list down a bit, was removed, so I had to keep reseting them. This has been a bit annoying to be sure. It has made the process unnecessarily long. But it has prompted me to look back and realize perhaps instead of so much self- improvement goals I needed a reset myself. I have my own filters of what I will do and won’t do in my list of improvement goals, I decided that yes, I want to shed a few post- holiday pounds, yes I want to budget better, and yes and want to fulfill all the promises made in the previous year, but I will filter out from the list other items. The difficult ones, the ones that focus on others, I just want to focus on me this year. I didn’t want a reset on God’s terms, just my own, with applying my own filters.

That is until I was rereading the Gospel of Luke this morning, not the whole thing, just a small passage, when I realized that in my goals and resolutions I had been overlooking the basics. I had been focusing on my self and not on others. In doing so, I was setting up this year to be a self- centered one. Not a giving of myself to others, not forgiving and walking the extra mile, not giving without expecting anything in return, not the loving and praying for my enemies. The basics of what Jesus’ taught. The selfless view of treating others, that replaced the self-fish view of life, the view that tries to be the best person by focusing on self. I felt convicted yet hopeful as I read the passage.

The New year isn’t about doing something new in order to make life better, it was the need to return to what God had designed for me, for us, the kind of life and behavior that God intended. To love God and love others. We were designed for a relationship with our creator and each other. It’s the factory setting. Now it’s time to reset my factory setting. God Bless- Nancy

A Promise Kept

“For no word from God will ever fail”- Luke 1:37

How many times have I read the passage from Luke’s Gospel account of the Virgin Birth of Jesus and missed the verse above? I’m not sure, but I double checked today, and the verse was still there. It stood out to me a couple of days ago. Right when I needed it. Of course! I’ve found this out about God, He always has the perfect timing, with the right Bible verse when I needed it. And believer me this year I have needed them quite often. I’ll be honest it has been a tough year. I feel my anxiety growing gradually as the year has passed, and now here we are near the end of December, on the eve of Christmas, and I am feeling no joy, no peace, and no comfort.

But I keep holding on to God’s promise. It WILL get better. I’ve seen it before. My sadness, my anxiety, my fear will be replaced by the peace only Jesus gives. My heart will feel joy again and my mind will be filled with hopeful thoughts. This is just a season. I know God will come through and I take comfort in the verse above.

God made the promise to mankind way back in the book of Genesis. To send a Savior. To send a deliverer who would defeat the serpent. And when the people were least expecting Jesus’ entrance into the world, here He came in the lowliest, most unexpected way. He wasn’t born to a royal couple, yet He is a King, no birth announcements or baby showers to prepare for His arrival, but a couple who were young and ill- prepared for a birth in the middle of a government census, yet Jesus was prophesied to have the government on His shoulders in a Kingdom without end. Born in a barn, yet coming from a royal throne in Heaven, that He set aside. The power to create the world, yet in a lowly human body that would need a mother’s care to change his diaper and feed Him.

And here He came. As promised. Not in our time table, but God’s. To love a world and give His life for a wayward group of humans. Humans who always do their own thing, rebelling against God, like a rebellious teenager or determined toddler who say “No!” to what the parent knows is best for them. God kept His promise to deliver us. To defeat death. To offer hope, peace with Him and with our fellow man, joy and a love that surpasses all human relationships. He came, because of us, not despite us.

Darkness is not forever. The world was dark when Jesus came and He brought light and hope to it. Sometimes life feels like a darkness that will last forever, but it won’t. God brings us a word at the right time, maybe through the Bible, maybe through a song, or maybe through a friend. Let’s pause today and listen for that word, that promise and remember God’s word does not fail. He kept His promise and offers us salvation, restoring our broken relationship with Him, giving us hope for this life that we will be alright. Our circumstances might not be good, but God is good. And that is a promise I hold onto. Tightly. Merry Christmas and God Bless you – Nancy

en-cour-age

Have you ever hit a slump?A time in your life when you just feel stuck? Unable to move forward and make progress? Everything seems to be on a constant repeat and you begin to get burned out. You want change, something new and different, but to be honest, change scares you a bit. Sometimes, even quite a bit. You begin to overthink what it is that you want to change. What if this change isn’t good? What if you should just keep the status quo? Just keep pressing on through this slump until it gets better and doesn’t feel so mundane and routine?

We all go through times of slumping. It doesn’t mean we are failures, just stuck. What we need is direction and encouragement. When I looked up encouragement through an online dictionary (part of my research for this blog), I was surprised by the definition: to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope (Webster’s).

I admit, this wasn’t what I thought about with the word to encourage. I guess I have used it so much that I believed it meant to cheer someone on, or cheer them up. I realize I missed a very important part of the meaning, even though it was right in front of me the whole time: COURAGE.

It now made sense. When I need encouragement to get out of a slump, what I am actually needing is courage to face my fears of making changes. Inspire to courage. It isn’t easy to realize that my slumping might be caused by fear. And more importantly, what I need is someone to inspire me to have the courage I need to change. It’s more than just cheering me up, its inspiring to have courage, to be brave, face fears.

When we are afraid, we need to be reminded that God is with us. He encourages through His Word and sends others to encourage us. One of my favorite encouragement verses in the Bible is from the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament.

Be strong and courageous: Do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9).

This verse is actually hanging in my office, and I look at it daily. But I still forget to make this verse personal and take it to heart. I see it so often, that it becomes just another verse. But not today. Today I began to see it with fresh eyes. I was reminded that discouragement isn’t about sadness, but about being afraid. Joshua had big shoes to fill in following Moses’ leadership. The people were difficult to lead. There would be battles ahead. There would decisions to be made, affecting thousands of people. Moses had led the people out of Egypt, but even he sinned and wouldn’t be able to enter the Promised Land. He would die before seeing it. I wonder how scared Joshua was with the daunting task ahead of him? He had been very positive as one of the only two spies to return with good news of a land flowing with milk and honey.

But God still saw Joshua’s need for courage. To face the fears associated with this big assignment he had been given by God. I am so thankful that this verse is here to read in 2023. It encourages us now, as we also need to face fears of changes. Maybe God sends slumps, so we will seek Him out and ask for the strength we need to face the fear of change. He stirs up our lives to keep us from refusing to accept change. He supports us in moving forward in our faith journey. Life keeps moving forward and we move along with it. We just need to be inspired to have courage and hope. Let this be your dose of encouragement for today. – God Bless- Nancy

Fair Enough?

“That’s not fair!” “Why did I get in trouble?”, “It’s not MY fault!” “But I was here first!” Do any of these phrases sound familiar? Do remember when you were a kid and saying these? Or maybe it was just last week! I KNOW I have uttered any one of these at least once during adulthood.

It seems this sense of right, wrong and fairness never leave us, even as adults. We want what is right. We want our fair share of things. We want equity and we don’t like being treated unfairly or to be singled out for punishment or left out of rewards and benefits.

Have you ever considered whether or not equity and fairness apply to your faith walk? Is God fair? Does He treat everyone the same? Before you quickly answer, consider for a moment what you believe about fairness and goodness. Do you think that you are a good person? When you compare yourself with others, do you see yourself as equal to or even slightly better? Do you compare yourself with other believers, or even your family members? Are quickly to point out their shortcomings and place yourself at a higher ranking, spiritually or morally?

Maybe you don’t call yourself a Christian, but more of an agnostic or spiritual person. You kinda believe there is something or someone bigger than this world who kinda controls it all. A big something, that judges us all for what we do, good or bad. So, you rate yourself as pretty good. You try to do good things to other people. You give to charity and volunteer to walks to raise money. You see yourself as a rescuer of the bad stuff in the world, like breast cancer, alzheimers, children in trafficking, drunk drivers, global warming, pollution, pet population control, pet rescue, the world hunger and clean water shortages.. You do your part, and it is good, but you pat yourself on the back, believing that all this good, will actually ‘make’ you a good person, worthy of good karma or what ever you might believe is out there.

But, is this enough to outweigh the bad, or not so good stuff you did when you were a younger, maybe not wise yet, self? None of us are perfect. Sometimes we don’t think we deserve any unfairness. But, what if we do? What if we all are guilty of bad behavior, that we want to forget about? Somehow believing that some great scale in the universe will work it all out. So, what would this scale look like?

Would it automatically discount all the good works, say if you did something really bad, like murdered someone? Or stole? or told a lie? Who or what would set the standard? Would it be the same for everyone? Ah, the fairness word comes back in.

What would be fair? Is there a scale of giving to charity? A threshold for money or time given to a cause? Does the cause count? Does it have to benefit others? Who would decide what is beneficial to all? Does it matter what you believe would benefit others yourself, or could there be a global good that must be met in this threshold of giving?

If you are a Christ follower, does this threshold mean giving to the church of your time and money? Is it like a point system, like a number line that propels you forward for good works done for Jesus, but telling a lie would send you back done the points number line?

It might sound like this scale is a bad theory to you. Which, thankfully, it is. There is a scale of fairness, and rightness, and goodness. And it is set by a greater being than we, mere humans. It is set by God. And we all fall way short of His standard. WAY SHORT. It’s pretty much impossible. Except we can meet this standard, but only through Jesus. It is fair and equitable. And it is not based upon our efforts or giving to charity. Good works will never help us meet this standard. Only faith in Jesus.

One standard, one requirement, for all people. Faith in Jesus as savior. Pursuing works will never help us meet the standards of God. How much would we need to do? What would count as good? The Bible says only God is good. We might not think God is fair, but He offers this plan for all who choose to believe Him at His word. He shows us mercy and grace. He doesn’t leave us doubting about the future. Our future, after we die. We aren’t rolling the dice, wondering if karma has decided our fate.

We can know for sure our future is settled when we hold to the belief, all the bad stuff we have done has been wiped off our record, and replaced with God’s payment in full for good works, not OUR good works, but Jesus’ work on the cross and His resurrection. To me, that is MORE than fair enough. -God Bless- Nancy

But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. -Romans 3:21-24, NIV.

Believing Is Seeing

I recently ran across an article from 2019, that investigated the claims of a young man that was suing his father. The young man had been in a terrible car accident that nearly killed him, At the time of the accident, the boy was quite young, and his parents were approached to write a book about his miraculous recovery, a recovery that claimed the young boy had died, went to Heaven and repeatedly had visions of angels. Sadly, the boy’s parents divorced and now the young man lives with his mom. Both are suing the father for allegedly fabricating the entire story for his own financial benefit. When interviewed the father denied any fabrication and insists that God knows what happened and that there is no need for him to defend himself over his actions.

What saddened me the most about the article is that the publisher, Tyndale House, took the book out of print out of fear, when the son and mom denied the events happened and it couldn’t be backed up theologically by the publisher’s experts. The theologians said it simply couldn’t have happened as portrayed in the story. Hmm, Is that true? It makes me wonder. We consider God as unchanging in His nature. The bible speaks clearly to this matter, yet, we as humans try to keep God contained in a small package. A package that lists what God can and cannot do. We assume that God in our modern time frame does not do miracles, show up in a burning bush, or tell people to build arks in the desert anymore. In the past He used hands to write on walls, spoke through donkeys and healed people. But what about now? In 2023?

So, is it not possible that God still does these sorts of things? Do we really think that we are the ones who have outgrown a God who does the impossible? Has God retired from the miraculous and impossible? Must we follow the theological interpretations of a select few? Yes, of course I believe in proper theological exegetic of Bible passages, but notice I mention proper. Too many people call themselves experts, but fail to understand context. They believe that God’s work that cannot be explained must be negated. They don’t trust experiential evidence of faith encounters. Why? because they cannot explain them. And because they cannot explain them, they put themselves at risk of being questioned over their expertise and mastery of the Bible. So, it is easier to dismiss, rather than believe.

So, what do you think? Does God still perform miracles? Does He still call people through extraordinary ways? Do people visit Heaven and come back, after being resuscitated? Do people see angels? Do people see Jesus? If they should is that a bad thing? After all, Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples, told the others, that he couldn’t believe in a resurrection without seeing Jesus first hand. And if you know the story, Jesus gladly showed Thomas His scars and let Him touch them. To see if it was all true. Maybe some people need to see to believe a bit better. Maybe for some faith is not blind, but based upon seeing what they believe.

I suspect, that if the truth comes out about the bitter divorce from the article I read, the son is protecting his mom and the mom is simply bitter for being left by her husband. Tragic events, such as the accident that was the result of the father behind the wheel, might have led to a mom’s bitterness. That bitterness can become rooted and grown into resentment. A resentment that the son grew up around and began to change his perspective of his father. What should have been an amazing story of God’s interaction with a child who was injured, led to finger pointing and a broken family. And that is the real tragedy. God Bless, Nancy

Still Counting

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds– James 1:2, NIV

So, maybe if you are like me, there are a few Bible verses that I know and have memorized, but which give the most difficulty to follow. Like the one above from the Book of James. I first memorized the verse as “Count it all joy” I like the word consider better. But still. I really struggle to consider any type of trial as a reason for joy. James tells us why we should as he continues in verse 3; “because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.…” Okay. I get it. Our modern version of the verse might read, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. That part I understand. We go through trials and struggles and we get stronger. But counting it s joy is my struggle.

Another version of James 1 reads”My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”( NKJ) It always seems as if we are falling into trials. It is not something we desire, it just happens. And the word fall describes how I feel sometimes; like I am losing my footing; my security and falling into misery and a stress out state. It is difficult to feel joy when you are completely stressed out and anxious.

Struggles hit us all. Trials, as James writes. He knew then as we know now- human nature and its struggles hasn’t changed much- life is full of trials, struggles, and difficulties. We all could come up with a fairly long list of the stuff we have had to deal with in our lives. We surely can count those. But joy? I need to be deliberate about that one. Can I really count them and place them under the heading of “joy”?

But, what James was getting at is the opportunity that these struggles give us to draw closer to God. We are probably more drawn to prayer when we have problems we want help with. We get overwhelmed and cry out to God. As we call out to Him, we are placing more of our trust and faith in Him. We realize our struggles are more than we can bear on our own. When life is going well for us, we forget how much of that is not our own doing, but the grace of God. But, trials and struggles can be God’s grace as well if it draws us closer to Him. He desires this close relationship with us and wants to grow us into the people He created us to be; stronger when we are leaning on Him and fully focused on Him, and not on ourselves.

Trials and struggles will come and go in this life, and over the years I can look back and realize that during the most difficult times in my life are the times when I spent more time reading the Bible and praying and letting God grow and stretch my faith. We cannot escape the difficulties of this life, there is no way to avoid them. So for now I will keep trying to count them as joy, even when I don’t understand the joy yet. -God Bless You- Nancy