Rooted: 30 Days to Strengthen Your Faith Through StruggleНамуна

WEEK 4: Bearing Fruit in Every Season

Focus: Living as a rooted child of God—steady, fruitful, and resilient in every season.

Day 23: Joy in the Struggle

"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." But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4

Joy and struggle don’t often show up in the same sentence. Let alone that we should HAVE joy IN the struggle.

We tend to put off joy until the struggle is over - not when we feel like we are fighting for our lives in the middle of it. But James flips the script. He tells us to count it all joy - not because of the pain, but because of what God is producing through it.

Trials refine us. They expose the weak spots in our faith, not to shame us, but to strengthen us. Every time you persevere through hardship, you are building spiritual endurance.

Struggle is the refining fire that produces gold. Struggle is the pressing that reveals the diamond.

Having joy while struggling is not about toxic positivity. It’s not about pretending things are fine. It’s about recognizing that even in this - yes, even here where it is hard - God is working.

Working that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. What an incredible outcome!

Joy in the struggle doesn’t mean we’re happy about the trial. We can lament about it to God. He understands.

But it does mean we’re hopeful in the trial. It means we choose to believe God is using this to shape us, deepen us, and make us more like Christ.

So if life feels heavy today, look for the joy not in the circumstances, but in the One who is holding you through them.

Reflection Questions:

• What trial are you facing now?
• How might God be using it to grow you?
• Where can you choose joy even in difficulty?