Pure Joy

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." James 1: 2-4 Message

Excitement is hitting me. Trepidation is there at all times...that lingering feeling in my stomach that I'm moving away from all that is familiar and that I will feel very alone and small in the world. There is sadness mingling with all of the other emotions. BUT, do I have joy? Happiness is temporal, fleeting. Here for one moment and gone for even longer. Joy is an evasive, wellspring of peace and hope. There is no other word for joy but joy!

I often recall James 1:2. The Message captures it in a wonderful way, but in paraphrase, I think of it as "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials and temptations of many kinds." Joy is usually the last thing I'm feeling or thinking about. Wouldn't it be nice for us to say that the rough things that happen to us in life draw us closer to God instead of causing us to take our eyes off of Jesus? I want the choices I make today and the grace that seasons my life to help others right now. The difficulties, the lonely times, the hardships...I want them to mean something! God's story for me is one that will help others on their faith journey. There's something up ahead in the road, I can almost make it out...