From Doubt to Devotion: How Our Trials Transform UsSample

A few years ago, I went through a season that broke me. Certain events drove me to my knees, face down on the ground, begging God for wisdom. I felt vulnerable, out of control, and uncertain about what to do next. I'd never been in situations like I faced in my leadership, and I desperately needed direction.

Do you know what it feels like when life hits you with something you weren't expecting and didn't prepare for?

James knew his readers were in a difficult place. He wrote to Jewish Christians scattered by persecution, living in exile, facing trials they never imagined. And James gives them what seems like impossible advice: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." (James 1:2 NIV)

Count it joy?! Really?!

James isn't asking us to pretend trials don't hurt or to fake happiness when life falls apart. Instead, he's pointing us toward something much more powerful.

Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who survived Nazi concentration camps, discovered something profound about human nature while helping fellow prisoners. He wrote: "Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

When you encounter adversity, there's a moment (sometimes seconds, other times minutes) between realizing you're in a trial and choosing how to respond. That space is where transformation happens.

James says we can choose to "count it pure joy." Notice he doesn't say "count it all happiness." Happiness depends on circumstances and the occurrence of good things. Joy is bigger than circumstances. Joy comes from seeing beyond the moment to what God is doing through the trial.

This invitation isn't about denying reality or minimizing pain. James invites us to choose to view our trials from an eternal perspective. What does this look like from God's point of view? If you could step outside the immediate pain and see the larger work God is doing in your life, what would this trial accomplish?

When I was on my knees a few years ago, I wrestled with those questions repeatedly. I could focus on the uncertainty and fear, or I could trust that God was working even when I couldn't see it. The Holy Spirit gave me power to choose joy.

That's the gift James is offering. You don't have to be a victim of your circumstances. You have been given divine power to choose your attitude. You can decide to look for what God is doing rather than focusing only on what's going wrong.

I'm not saying this is easy. It wouldn't be called a “trial” if it weren't difficult. But in that space between what happens to you and how you respond, you have more God-given power than you realize.

Tomorrow, we'll explore why people who've been through hard times actually have a secret advantage over those who haven't.