Consider it Joy!

James 1:2-4 "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

For any of you who have been in sports in high school or college, you know how important endurance is. I was a swimmer. I remember the first day of practice in middle school, I was in 7th grade, and once practice was over, I thought to myself, "What have I done?! I'm going to die." My butt got kicked for weeks, but by the end of the season I was stronger and faster and I could handle anything the coaches threw at me... So much so, that before I joined the team in high school I had injured my knee playing basketball and had to have surgery a couple of weeks before the swim practice started. I wasn't allowed to use my legs for a while. I swam the first 2 weeks of practice without my legs! I'm not telling you this to make you think I'm hard core, but to make an illustration.

I fell in love with swimming and I was willing to put myself through the extreme practices so I could win the races. Every practice was put in place to prepare me for the meet to come. Just like every circumstance in life, every test and challenge, is put there to prepare us for the next place God wants us to be. I started to look forward to the hard practices instead of dreading them. I started to hold my head up higher and I proclaimed the fact that I was a swimmer. I flexed my muscles. I worked hard in the off season. I took joy in the preparation and the process of building endurance because I loved what I did.

Dear mom, dear wife, dear Christian, do you love what you do? Are you proud of what you do? Are you willing to go through the hard things in life to build your endurance? Are you willing to count all the difficult days joy? Or have you packed your bags, emotionally and mentally checked out... or just given up? Have you decided that it's just too hard and it would be easier just not to love "it" anymore?

Don't quit! The light at the end of the tunnel is not a train, it's Jesus. And He is just waiting to tell you, "Good Job." We all desire to be on top of the mountain, taking in the view (I actually had a dream about that the other night). But to get there, you have to climb. The higher you climb, the more magnificent the view. But the higher you climb, the harder it gets to breathe. The higher you climb, the steeper the steps. Yet everyday, you get closer. Everyday, you get stronger. Everyday, you gain experience. Everyday you build endurance. And everyday, your joy can increase if you choose to let it.