Producing Steadfastness
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." - James 1:2-3
In a recent group discussion about finding God faithful, the discussion ended in a group acknowledgment of our need to praise God for His faithfulness as He answers prayer. We can not get to this point of true joy in Him and finding Him faithful if we are not being specific in our prayer lives and being attentive to watching God work and answer as He sees fit. It was not mentioned in the discussion, but it is worth mentioning now that our posture of praising God and finding Him faithful must be constant because He never changes and He is always answering prayers (as long as we have prayed them) and He is always working all things together for our good and His glory, whether He answers in the way we want or not.
Since we are experiencing grief, we have probably all prayed prayers that were answered differently than we hoped. I specifically remember praying multiple times through my mom's seventeen days in the hospital leading up to her passing. For a while, I did not pray. When I did, I prayed for healing. I prayed for peace. I prayed for wisdom. And I prayed that God's will be done. Looking back on those prayer journal entries, I can not help but smile at God's kindness as He allowed my mom to stay with me here until my heart posture changed. Over those seventeen days, He grew me to be content in Him and grew me to truly desire for His will to be done, even in my uncertainty and lack of understanding. He displayed His kindness in His timing and in the ways He chose to answer those prayers prayed within that seventeen day period.
Through the verses in James at the start of this post, we are strongly urged to count it ALL joy. In our grief, we do know that trials bring us steadfastness in Christ because we have no certainty to cling to except Him. Perhaps your current place in your grief journey has you feeling everything except steadfast. Maybe you are experiencing monumental shifts in every direction. Maybe nothing is the same and no one is steadfast. Maybe, as hard as it is to admit, your relationship with God does not seem steadfast. If that is the case, please know that it is okay to have those feelings. The Bible is here to encourage us in knowing that even when nothing feels steadfast during our times of trials, we can experience all the feelings and changing circumstances because God never changes and He is steadfast. He was steadfast before tragedy hit. He was steadfast in our moments of joy and sweet memories we get to look back on. He is steadfast when you do not feel Him. He was, is, and always will be steadfast because it is who He is.
So, as we push on to a new week edging towards spring, whether your mood reflects it or not, I encourage you to take each emotion as at comes. Let us be kind to others and remember they, too, may be grieving or experiencing another type of trial. With each moment, each reflection of the past, observation of the present, and each hope of the future, let us try to cling to Him and keep counting it all joy as we experience our trials and let us be encouraged in knowing we are being refined; we are producing steadfastness.
