All joy

 

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. – James 1.2-3

 

Nobody but nobody likes the notion of trials. Trials are pain and they usually cause pain or great grief. The last thing we would naturally think about in a trial is to rejoice.

 

I look back and can remember the beginning of many trials.  Two really stick out above all the others. One day I sat with Matt in a consulting room of Tallaght Hospital when the doctor told us that Michelle had a form of leukaemia that could very well kill her before the week was out. The other was the night Beth phoned us and told us that she has Stage 3 breast cancer.

 

I must admit that my first response in both cases was not to rejoice. I was crushed in soul and spirit.

 

There are a lot more, but this are the ones when joy was the furthest thing from my mind.

So how are we supposed to rejoice in times like that?

 

Trials of our faith grow us – but often there is something in between. God uses trials to teach us to wait on Him for the next trial to come our way.

Our joy comes as we learn to see what God is doing and we trust Him to bring us through the fires and bring us purified as gold.

Thank God for the lessons of patience learned in these trials. May I learn to rejoice in future trials.