This too shall pass...

We learn greater perseverance, strength, and endurance through suffering.“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance,” James 1:2-3.No one wishes for hard times in life. No one asks for suffering or storms. No one longs to wade through deep rivers of hurt, rejection, and pain, or to try to find your way out of the darkness of confusion and doubt. Yet if we’ve lived long enough, we know that this is all a part of life. Maybe that’s why God reminds over and over in His word that trials are a part of our journey. It’s what makes us stronger, gives us endurance, builds our faith.Throughout his word, God tells us to choose joy in whatever we face, confident that He is working even through every trial and hard place, to bring us greater perseverance. We never gain greater strength and spiritual muscles simply by living an “easy” life. We can only build deeper faith by walking through the hard times that press us more closely into His Presence. Every biblical hero through the pages of the Word were tested and strengthened, not through simple, easy times, but through great times of suffering and difficulty. This should give us hope even today, that God knows our way, and the testing of our faith will produce endurance. It’s for far greater purposes than we may even realize.