Consider It Joy

Did you ever wonder what that means? " Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds." James 1:2. I really had no clue until I got closer to God, and faced all the trials we have faced. There are days I struggle with it though. How can I be joyful when life is falling apart around me? When sickness, strife, financial woes, and all the other stuff that goes wrong happens on an almost daily basis, how do you find joy?

I guess we have to start with what joy is... The dictionary states it is something that brings great pleasure and happiness. Ok, I get that. But how can you find joy in the midst of strife? Let's see what the Biblical scholars say... The happy state that results in knowing and serving God. Yeah, ok, that makes a lot more sense! So by serving God, even deep in the pit, I can find joy. So when I see someone suffering and I seek to help them, even on my "bad days" I'm finding joy. When I offer up myself to do God's will and whatever He asks of me, I find joy. When life hands me lemons, God shows me His version of lemonade... pure joy.

So today was awful. My teen hurt her knee... the doctor's office called an hour before her appointment to tell me they couldn't see her because she turned 18... the doctor at the clinic we went to couldn't give us crutches and prescribed some, but no one could help us.... I got hit with the migraine to end all migraines and ended up puking.... the kids were punks.... just one of those days. We've had a few of those days lately. In the midst of it though, I heard from the family we helped a few weeks ago, and they have moved to Eureka Springs and are praising God for the blessings in the midst of their troubles. The other family travelling home to Idaho made it safe and sound with the provisions that God gave them. A great friend sent me a reminder of the teaching this weekend..... Our pastor preached on the "light afflictions" that occur in our lives that lead to the "eternal weight of glory." This really struck me. In fact, it has been my mantra since Saturday night. Light afflictions equals lemons and strife while eternal weight of glory equals joy.... pure joy. The joy of knowing that EVERYTHING that happens here will be nothing compared to the wonderful things we'll experience in heaven. That nothing satan throws at us will matter..... that the love that God gives us is the most important thing..... That we can rest on the fact that it is all worth it in the end.......