“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” (James 1:2-4 MSG)
REFLECTION
There have been times when I’ve been simply minding my own business, feeling peaceful and purposeful, doing what I believe God wants me to do…and then, suddenly, something very unexpected would happen and I’d find myself either irritated, offended, jealous, anxious, disappointed or trying to manage a messy mix of indescribable emotions. In public I may have looked groomed, organised and relatively calm, but what was swirling within me was so ugly that I found myself adding self-loathing to an already hot mess of emotion, all of which made me feel utterly miserable. And I’ve found that it’s only when we get really honest about how we are feeling and process that in prayer and with trusted people, that we can face and really deal with our true colours (which are not always brilliant hues) that come to the surface when life gets really hard. And this I know: as we stay close to the Lord and connected to a caring Christian community, in the hard and the happy times, our faith will increase and with it, true blessings of every hue.
PRAYER POEM
Loving Lord ~ You know how hard life can feel and only You can heal the depths of my heart and restore every wounded part. Keep me close to You and Yours, as we journey onward and upward, step by step, mindful of all that is eternally good and true.
