Growing in Christ Isn’t Always Easy

As we walk through life, things are not always going to be easy, there are going be problems, temptations, and trails.  The question is how do we handle ourselves during these times? Are we going to complain about what’s going wrong, are we going to put on a strong face in front others yet inside we are falling apart and complaining?   Or maybe we can lift our head toward heaven and thank God for these times and realize how much love He has shown us.  Not to many years ago I was going through a rough spot, it seemed everything that could go wrong went wrong.  I wish I could say that I handled it  with grace and thanked God for it every day, in fact I wish I could say that I lifted my head towards heaven and not praised God but asked Him for Wisdom.  But instead I went around complained about it to Autumn and to anyone in the family who would listen, stuck my foot in my mouth more often than not, and just made those around miserable.  I wish that at some point during this time I had taken a closer look at James tells here in his letter; “Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.  For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.  If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.”(James 1:2-7)

If only I knew then what I know now, I would have handled that spot in my life so differently.  I realize that we all go through different trails, maybe your trail is a temptation in your life that keeps creeping back to haunt you, maybe you’re new to the faith and feel that God is telling you, get rid of a sin that you really want to hold on to.  May you are having financial trouble; maybe you don’t like your job but feel trapped in it with no way out.  But this is what I do know, we serve a God who does know and He knows the answers and has the strength to guide and direct us into a new stage of walk with Him.  When these times come to us we need to go to God and seek out His wisdom and His strength.  James tells us as we grow in God we are not to expect  things to be great, but to realize things are going to get tough.  When we realize that change is needed in our lives it is never easy, when times get tough it easy to throw up our hands and say forget it I don’t care anymore.  Yet both James and Peter tell us the same thing that it is during these times of trails our faith will grow in God.  “These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”(1^st Peter 1:7)

I remember one day putting on my pants and thinking these seem a bit tight then looking at the size on them and thinking when did I get this big.  It was that day I decided it was time to lose the weight.  I started to run and do pushups and all the things one does to lose weight.  I found out a couple things, one the first week was easy after that it got harder, I was sore I wanted to eat more ice-cream then I needed to be eating.  People would start to give me a hard time about having a salad every day for lunch and try to get to get food from what fast food place they were going to.  But I also found out that it got easier the soreness went away and the results were worth the hard work.  This is true in life, the things that are worth having are generally coming with a great deal of sacrifice and trails but once we have received it no one can take from us.