James 1: 2, 3, 4
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith has been tested your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed you will be perfect and complete needing nothing.”
Our journey in the Christian walk is a narrow path of many different landscapes, distracting us from our focus on the Lord. The refreshing heights of success can make us proud and high-profile for temptation and set us up for a fall. The flat lands can be calm, but temptations rise where boredom lurks, enticing us to excitement. The valleys can be devastating as we encounter some of the lower than low moments in our lives, but it’s in these heights, these depths and these mediocre flat lands of nothingness where rare beauty lies waiting to be discovered and where the Lord calls us away to test our faith. It’s in the low places of failure and discouragement where our weary souls find restoration in His loving embrace, as we submit to His will. If we remain faithful and true to our God and His Truth we will emerge from our valley refreshed and rejuvenated, having grown in the maturity and the wisdom of Christ, our Savior and our teacher.
That for which we strive for as a believer, or our goal is to grow in Christ. Trials then, are reasons to celebrate with the inner joy of the Lord in our hearts. Let’s not lose sight of this precious and most valuable truth.
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 