An opportunity for joy

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy." James 1:2 (NLT, 2015, Tyndale House)

There is a kind of joy that comes like fruit, a culmination of waiting, of hope, of hard work maybe or of planning. It is a celebration of something good, beautiful, of deep significance.

And then there is a wholly different joy that can only be found by digging beneath the tough facade, by looking beyond the crumbling walls, by praying our way through the most difficult of circumstances.

Diamond-like joy is forged in the trial.

This joy is an invitation from God to trust Him in the dark, in the loneliness, in the tragedy, in the trial, in the refining, in the persecution. When we trust Him in these places, when we get through by constant prayer, when we lean on His strength for every moment, this is when we discover this diamond-like joy.

It is forged under pressure, and only found by mining our trials, and it tells us: God is with us, God is here! It is the truth expressed in Psalm 23: even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. For You [my Shepherd] are with me, and Your rod [protection] and staff [guidance] comfort me.

Lynne Shaw © 2019 The Word Tribe. All rights reserved.