I have found my joy!!

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ~James 1:2-3

You know when I have read this in the past my first thought was "finding pure joy in trials, not likely" but as I opened my devotion book last night and read the entry and saw this verse as one of the book's key verses for the day, I finally truly understood.

It isn't meaning take joy in the pain of the trial, but to take joy in the comfort you find in the Lord during those times. With the Lord the impossibilities of any trial becomes possible. If we focus not on the hardness of the time, but on the peace and comfort that the Lord provides in those times, then we can feel joy.

Just think about when you were a child and were hurt and you found comfort in the loving arms of your mother. No matter what was happening, no matter how much you hurt, feeling you mother's arms around you, feeling her loving kiss on your forehead, you felt safe and completely loved. You knew you were not alone in your pain because you mother was hurting for you and TOGETHER you will get through it.

Now maybe some of you that never felt this as a child, maybe you had a hard childhood and your mother wasn't the one you found comfort in, but as a mother you can understand the true love of a mother's heart, and in this knowledge it is easier to grasp the depth of God's love for us, because there it no one in this whole world that has, does, or will love you more than God. No matter how much I love my precious children, God loves them infinately more than I even have the compacity to love them. So if I as a mother hurt when my children hurts and they can find refuge in my arms, how much more sufficient is the safety and comfort that I, in this time of trials and uncertainity, can find in the arms of Christ.

So no, I don't take joy IN the trial I am in, I take joy in the comfort that I find in my Heavenly Father's arms during this time. Because with His help, I WILL get through this and my dependance on Him will cause my faith to grow more than I ever imagined. And in that I find my joy! God is my joy!!