Part 1 | The Joy of James

Yup, my Bible time has now wrapped up reading Hebrews and moved right into my oh-so-FAVOURITE — can you have a favourite??!! — Book of the Bible. And I wonder, has anyone out there guessed what it is? 

Well, heck, it is the good ol’ book of JAMES!

And now, just why would I love James so much???

Well, seems James and I beat to the same (kinda crazy) 🙂 drum! LOL!

I laugh, but it’s true. 🙂 There are more than a few things we look at with the same “worldview.” And I guess, if I am honest, I honestly think I GREW into this worldview from reading books in the Bible — just like JAMES.

‘Cause how I see the world, and the struggles in it, is maybe a little bit different than a lot of others.

Hmmm…. Not sure where I am heading? Well, hear me through … with a story or two. 🙂

So, the very second verse out the gate has got me thinking of just how to define some key words in it, mainly “Trials” and “Joy.” And, boy oh boy, just HOW could those two words possibly go hand in hand??! They seem pretty much, two opposite concepts, and so, just what could likely LINK those two things together?

Well, in my brain — uh-oh, here it comes 😉 — it kinda links to a story I feel I have been repeating over … and over … and over A LOT lately, and it goes like this:

Years ago I blew out my kneecap. (Like, literally blew it out. I had my left kneecap hanging off the left side of my leg for about 15 minutes before I popped it back in. Ugh, the thought still makes my stomach go kinda COLD.) But the pain while it popped OUT isn’t the piece of the story I am highlighting. Nooooo, it was all the weeks after while things were “hurting” that I had to make some decisions about just how to tackle my “healing.”

Now, after some X-rays and extra meds — OK, I am a bit of a wuss when I go to bed at night 🙂 — I was sent to a physiotherapist, who promptly told me to do some oh-so-wonderful leg extension exercises. The KEY was to move my knee to the point of pain, and then?? CHOOSE to PUSH a little bit past that point, to challenge what felt comfortable, to stretch past what felt secure to ensure my ligaments did not get stuck and stay stagnant.

Yes, PUSHING past that pain was the BEST thing, I was told.

But the next time I went to the same building, for the same physio, I did NOT see the same therapist. Nope, some other new wonderfully kind woman got me doing some other very interesting exercises. But the KEY to this “successful stretch” on that day was if I felt pain, I was to STOP immediately and go no further.

Say what??

Say yeah. THIS therapist said that “pain” was a SURE SIGN TO STOP, to retreat, to resist, and whoa! The practical-protocol-following nurse in me was …

CONFUSED.

Two sets of therapy, two sets of treatments … to the same situation.

So, just what should this girl do?? Or maybe, better said, to CHOOSE TO DO???

Well, I chose option A) to push PAST the pain a little more each day. Which, by the way, was definitely NOT easy or COMFORTABLE in the short term, but in the long? MY KNEE and leg grew strong. It stretched more, it flexed more, it increased in extension and, well? I learned that PUSHING past the pain worked really well for my very real leg.

BUT seems the same works for my very real SOUL.

OH??

Yes, seriously so.

When I feel SOUL-PAIN, I can either stop, turn, run away, avoid the issue (my old-school “options and actions”) 😉 or I can CHOOSE to do a “JAMES” and dig in to see my very real “trial” as a very real “SOUL-challenge”: a point and place to GO and GROW forward. A spot to heal up at a deeper level, a SOUL level.

And the BEST news is that through this deeper healing, I gain:

• PERSEVERANCE (verses 3 and 12): the “Push through, I can do” attitude — very helpful stuff in ALL areas of life.
• FAITH (verses 2-3): Building Belief in GOD’S ability (also quite useful). 🙂
• REAL-LIFE JOY (verse 12): Redefining just what is a REAL REWARD (like tackling and taking on something very scary to your SOUL, but once you DO, it releases you to FEEL some very real PEACE).

And so, there is the LINK: JOY from TRIALS. Aha! We have hit GOD GOLD!

Yes, it seems JAMES holds a KEY to finding JOY in life’s “JUNK,” and it is NOT to run away from the hard stuff, but to decide to GO with GOD THROUGH it. Because if you CHOOSE that? You just may find that the journey through the toughest stuff can truly be your BIGGEST BLESSING.

HE’S always got a lifelong SOUL-lesson in it. And I know this is so because GOD has done it for ME.

And HE can do it for YOU …

IF you choose to believe HIS TRUTH that the pathway to PEACE all begins by taking on the CHALLENGE to TAKE your “trial” and DO it HIS way and FOR HIM and begin a journey of JOY in the weirdest and wildest way ever, by starting with your TRIALS.

BE blessed, my friends.

Carol 😉

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