Double For Your Trouble
It is a rare person who does not get discouraged from time to time as they face life challenges and catastrophes on their faith journey. Whether it comes in the endless waiting or in the answer that seems opposite of what we hoped for, times of discouragement are a normal and necessary part of our spiritual growth. Our first response to these grievous ordeals will determine if they birth in us a pearl of great price or leave behind a fragmented empty shell to be trampled upon and kicked around on the bottom of the sea floor. If we learn how to prepare ourselves for these difficulties as Job did, arming ourselves with God’s holy armor, and carefully following God’s plan for battle, we will be in position to receive Job’s reward – Double For Your Trouble.
“Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience, brought on by endurance, will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line—mature, complete, and wanting nothing.” —James 1:2-4 THE VOICE