How To Be Happy in Your Storm

(James 1:2) “My brethren, count it all JOY when ye fall into divers temptations;”

I don’t know about you, but at first glance, this verse seems almost impossible to obey. You see, I don’t like trials. In fact, I hate going through a trial. It’s not fun and I usually want out of it as quickly as I got into it!

So how can God expect me to have JOY when I encounter trials? Am I to be happy that I lost my job, the car broke down, or my child is facing a health crisis? No. That isn’t what God is teaching us.

Joy doesn’t come because of our circumstances; rather joy comes when we learn new information about our circumstances that we didn’t have before.

That’s why James gives us some new information about our trials in the next two verses.

(James 1:3-4) “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 
4 But let patience have her PERFECT work, that ye may be PERFECT and entire, wanting nothing.”

James says we can have joy in our storm, not because we FEEL happy, but because we know that God is using our storm to help “perfect” (or mature) us into the Christian He wants us to be.

So, if you are going through a storm today, don’t get mad at God. Instead, pray, “LORD, what are you trying to teach me in this storm that will make me more like You!”

When you do that, something amazing begins to happen… your circumstances may not change, but your attitude ABOUT your circumstances will change. And THAT is what can make us happy in our storm!

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