Is this trial completing or crushing you?

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

Seasons of trial are often accompanied by feelings of uncertainty, especially when we’ve never faced a certain type of situation before. My wise mom once said to me, “Be thankful because God is developing something in you that you currently lack. If you’ve never been in this situation before, it’s a good thing because God is bringing you one step closer to maturity.”

There’s been both kinds of days… overwhelmed by grief and overwhelmed by gratitude…

I think it’s safe to say we’ve never been in a situation like this before— a worldwide pandemic, social distancing, isolation, an entire world shut down, many unknowns and a wait-and-see approach when trying to answer how long this is going to last.

Perhaps you’ve had many moments of feeling overwhelmed and afraid. In trying to stay positive, sometimes we miss giving ourselves permission to grieve what has been lost. While there is much to be grateful for, much has been lost. Grief and gratitude can be companions. There’s a place for both.

In this unprecedented time in history, we also have an unprecedented opportunity to seek the Lord for more wisdom and to count this tough time as joy. How? If we believe there is purpose to it. If we choose to believe God is doing something to bring us closer to maturity— to the complete place of not lacking anything.

Sometimes the crushing preceeds the completing— perhaps our self-sufficiency, our illusions of control, our reliance on self, and our obsession with productivity are all being crushed right now, because there’s some completing working that must take place.

When I was teaching, I would always test my students to determine whether or not they truly understood the concept we had covered. I tested them so both they and I would know where they were. Based on how we’ve responded in this time of trial, how are we doing? Is there evidence that our faith, hope and love are being completed, or crushed? Are we clinging to our illusions of control or allowing God to crush them in order to make room for His completing work? Ask Him for His wisdom to be able to count your trials as joy, and for His perspective to see how He desires to bring you closer to maturity.

Lord, on my own I lack wisdom to count this trial as joy. Give me your perspective. Change whatever You need to in my life so that I don’t miss out on what You are trying to accomplish in me. Thank you that you only crush what won’t bring life anyway and are bringing me to completion. Build into my life such a solid faith that I cannot help but trust you.

Excerpt adapted from James: A Roadmap for Trials