"Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4
When our lives become whirlwinds of chaos, from failure, circumstance, or the like... our first tendency can be to shut everything down. We quickly reevaluate, restructure, and remove value from everything. It's almost like this very extreme form of self-punishment where we prevent ourselves from feeling joy, just because we have experienced failure.
Why does failure mean you have to sacrifice joy?
This is the question that has been on my mind lately. It's nuanced and there may not be one solid answer... I've been in an intense storm lately. And for some reason, when I was in the thick of it, I immediately stopped and turned away from everything that brings me joy. Because of my disappointment, I felt that I was not worthy of joy.
When the Lord placed this scripture on my heart, for the first time I realized that I hadn't understood it in its entirety. Mostly, I focused on how the "testing of our faith," produces perservance. I have almost always overlooked, "count it all joy."
Joy is a fruit of the Spirit.
It is a derivative of God Himself. He is joy. It is a fruit that we can nurture and grow through the Holy Spirit. If that's the case, why are we so quick to throw it away? What if the fruit of joy is actually meant for seasons like this?
It may seem odd to find any kind of joy in disappointment, in failure, in poor choices. In that scripture though, the first thing the author says is to "count it all joy." Wouldn't that mean using your trials to nurture and grow joy?
That principle goes against everything we've learned in this world. Our perception of grace, punishment, mercy, and all of it is shaped by how we grew up. If you make a mistake, you get punished. You get something you love taken away so that you understand not to do it again. That concept works for us sometimes, but it is not how we can or should live our lives.
It's hard to believe. But the truth of the matter is, we don't feel worthy of any sort of grace. We feel that if we were not punished then we cannot properly move on... or we must sit in shame and regret.
However, the best response to failure is to repent and turn away from whatever it is and turn towards Jesus. We don't have to punish ourselves because of the season we are in. We don't have to hang our heads in shame. We need only to run to our Father.
But back to my point, if you are in a storm right now, there is joy, still. God has a funny way of showing you where it is, but I promise, it's there. No matter the reason for your trial, storm, misstep, whatever... count it all joy.
God be with you.
Be honest. Be hopeful. Be love.
Peace.
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