Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. James 1:2 NLV
This is a hard verse. From a quick reading, we could easily pressure ourselves to feel only joy, all the time. We know it can’t mean this since Christ was our perfect example and He felt a wide range of emotions. So what this verse may be saying, is we can hold onto hope He can bring joy from anything, while we’re feeling the hard emotions that come to us during trouble.
The verse says our joy rests on knowing the struggle will produce growth, but what about when trials don’t make people stronger? People sometimes break under the strain of their burdens and are not stronger as a result. People survive wars and natural disasters, but the PTSD they experience makes life harder. Traumatic childhoods and experiences leave people with pain that impedes their progress, but for every kind of break, God offers healing.
I remember how it felt to recover from depression after two years of numb darkness. It seemed like the sun finally broke through the clouds and I’m more grateful for happiness than I was before doing without it. My life feels like a song where the verses tell heartbreaking trials, and the chorus tells how Jesus heals me, proving His love over and over. I still don’t like to see trouble on the horizon, but I agree with James. Every struggle, trusted to Jesus’ redemptive power, will be the dirt in which our joy can grow.
