A couple of weeks ago I fractured my foot. It was in the middle of the school day, on my way to English. I stepped off the curb (embarrassing, I know), and I literally felt the bone crack. Sitting on the ground outside, crying from the pain, I saw my next couple months falling apart before my very eyes. This was the week before Miracle League started, the week before Color War and the start of Younglife clubs. I had essays due, tests and quizzes, and all of it happening in the pretty large two-storied school that is Westwood. Crutches, mind you, are not an easy mode of transportation. All these things together made these last few weeks very long, very tiring and very painful. In my life, the stress and the pain builds up and while I know that my relationship with Jesus is the answer to that pain, I find it hard to make that time to grow and build in that relationship. Luckily, sometimes God puts that time in front of you because He knows you need it.
Last week at campaigners we started to dive in the book of James. As some people know, I'm a big fan on when God's word tells you exactly what to do to make your life better and more meaningful. From the beginning of James, the Bible says to,
"Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." (James 1:2-3)
I had already read the beginning of James, but when I read those first sentences again on Wednesday night, I felt relief fill my heart. Those words, "pure joy," were exactly what I needed at that moment. I was physically and mentally tired, and this trial in my life that had just started was already making me feel sad and disconnected from Jesus and the world around me, but God spoke through the word's of James and told me to have joy, pure joy. That seems like a weird thing when you're in the midst of hard times, like how can I possibly have joy in this, and in truth, that joy may not always be there in that time of hardship, but that joy will come eventually. The Bible says that those tests of your faith produce perseverance; they help you grow and become closer in your relationship with Jesus. In simple terms, everything happens for a reason. It may seem bad but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Look at hardships with joy, and you will be better because of it.
God has put these people and outlets like campaigners in my life to get me through the hard times. The day I fractured my foot, my Younglife leader sent me a verse from 2nd Corinthians saying,
"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Those words made me feel like God was speaking right to me. "For when I am weak then I am strong." Right now I am weak, but with God's word I am strong. With His love and that relationship I am strong, and I will get through whatever is thrown at me. God is talking to me and telling me that it is all going to be okay, and that I need to find the joy in the bad times. It can be hard at times, but I know that I will come through it with a stronger relationship with Jesus, and be a better person because of it.
-mere :)
