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. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)
In the Christian walk I think these might be some of the hardest verses to follow. They are completely counter intuitive to how our minds work. But it is truth. We need to realize the big picture in life. Jesus has started a good work in us. Not an easy work but a work that will make us “mature and complete, not lacking anything.” What a reward we have when we allow Jesus to work on us. And all we need to start is faith. When we have faith that Jesus is in control, it allows us to have joy in the trials. When we know that our Saviour is in control it gives our faith a base. Faith lead us to perseverance. Perseverance is the commitment to seeing things through (with joy). Joy is the key though, without joy perseverance is stubbornness.
I challenge you this upcoming week to see every trial as an opportunity for your faith to lead to perseverance that will make you a more whole Christian.
Scriptural Seeds Ministries 
I received a call yesterday from my oldest son, he was, and has been in the midst of trials for quite some time. My only words of encouragement was to try to see these trials as a testing of not only his faith, but an opportunity for perseverance. I continued to share rhis story with him.
“I once heard a story about how the eagles builds their nest to be comfortable and safe for the baby eagles, after they start getting older the father eagle starts removing the soft lining of the nest to allow the nest to become very uncomfortable. The larger sticks poke the young birds, this discomfort creates a delima. Stay where they once was comfortable, but now dealing with the “trials” of the sharp branches? Or take a step of faith and trust “The Father” and fly. This is where Faith lead us to perseverance.”
(“You will never learn to fly, if you give up on the way down.”)
Have a wonderful week.
Rob Lavallee
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