Read: James 1:3

Hard times are opportunities to practice joy. But not just joy, also perseverance.

I heard a Canadian Olympic Gold winning rower say rowing is a competition at who can bear pain longer. The only way to win at rowing, he would say, is to persevere through pain. Achieving any sort of dream requires that we create a vision and persevere at holding that vision through obstacles and set backs. Pulling the plug would mean the end of the dream.

James suggest God is doing something with us. That's any other reason to respond to hard ship with joy - that it is the confirmatin that God is at work in our lives. We are like a block of marble being shaped into a work of art. Our job is to persevere through the pain while the artist chisels away at the stuff that's obscuring the finish work.

I can't think of anything harder to do in our pain-killer culture, where the rule of life is comfort at all cost. TV ads have us convinced that the right thing to do is to take a pill to numb the pain at the first sign of discomfort.

Of course, meaningless pain is, well, meaningless. But meaningful pain - that's something else. The ability to endure pain is typically the pre-requisite to acheiving things that don't come easy.

So when you face hard times, James says, respond with joy and stick it out.

Write
Think about your faith story: how well do you persevere? What are some hard times that have come your way which tested and trained your ability to persevere?

What are some circumstance in your life presently that requires perseverance? In what ways are you tempted to numb the pain?

Who do you know is currently in hard times? How can you support your friend by walking alongside them and persevering with them?

Pray
What is God saying to you today?

Talk to God about how it feels to remember your experiences of hard times. Talk to God about the way you did or did not persevere through those trials.

Talk to God about what you need from him if you are to persevere through the hard times you are facing. Ask God to show you the way you may be avoiding pain rather than facing them?

Ask God for the wisdom to know how to care for your friend in hard times. Pray for the opportunity to jump into the trenchers to support your friend.

Pray for a fresh experience of God's love, grace and mercy as you encounter all kinds of trials, and as you feel God with you as you practice perserverance.