Endurance

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." -- James 1: 2-5

Sometimes just making through a long Michigan January -- while staring February in the face -- feels like a trial. Maybe that's why I've been thinking about the above verse a lot lately.

While somewhat comforting, I have to admit that these words from James have always scared me a bit. You mean if God wants to make me better he's going to put me through hard stuff? Really? Maybe that's the reason that I sometimes look up toward heaven, shield my head a little bit, and ask, "What's next?"

This week I finally felt inspired by that New Year's Resolution enough to dig out Jillian Michael's "30-day Shred" workout DVD. In it, she talks about how when it hurts the most, you need to keep going because that's when you see results. She says that in order to get your body to change you must put stress on it. (Thanks to that "stress," stairs have been a bit painful for me all week.)

I think what I often fail to realize is that I don't need to wait for God to give me challenges, they are all around me. In fact, if stress is the pathway to change, then most of us can attest to experiencing growing pains.

As is my human nature, it's easy to get stuck on the first half of that above passage and miss the second half -- if you lack wisdom, ask for it. In other words, if life is hard, ask for help. Trust. Depend. Don't try to go it alone.

It's so easy to write, but so hard to live. And so I pray that with each struggle, I learn more and more how to worry less, with growing confidence that God is right here -- in the midst of whatever is putting enough stress on me to make me better.