Consider it Joy!

I have long wanted to memorize a book of the Bible both because I think Bible memory is very important and because it sounded like a fun challenge to see if I could do a whole book. Last Sunday at church some friends and I were discussing Bible memory (they are both really good at doing it!) and when we discussed memorizing a book all of us had been thinking (already) about doing the book of James. So knowing that we would be able to encourage each other I decided to actually go ahead and get started!

James is a great book of practical advice for living. If you haven't read it before or lately I would recommend it- it doesn't take very long as there are only 5 short chapters.

The second verse in James 1 says:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,"

Have you ever found that to be a bit (or a lot!) challenging? I have!

But this scripture goes onto say that testing of your faith will develop perseverance, which will help you mature and be complete not lacking anything. Trials will help us to grow!

This made my think about how Children love their birthdays. That is a milestone of the growing that they are doing and they are excited about growing. Growing isn't always easy either physically or spiritually but it is worth it. I am hoping that I can learn to rejoice in trials with the realization that God is helping me to grow.