What do you find yourself doing when things are hard? When you’re looking for direction but unable to find the path. You’re seeking but you’re not finding. You’re praying but you’re not hearing. Friend, if this is your present reality know that you aren’t alone. How we respond today has an immense effect on who we become tomorrow.

James mentions not just the importance but the supremacy of endurance in his short letter. “When troubles of many kinds come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy for you know that when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow, so let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed you will be perfect and complete needing nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Notice how James says that your endurance “has a chance to grow.” He doesn’t say when troubles happen your endurance will grow – it has a chance to, an opportunity. In the same way, just stepping into a gym and sitting on a bench for an hour is not going to make you any stronger. Yes, you spent the time and walked in the building, that’s the opportunity, but you didn’t engage, therefore you didn’t grow.

This concept does two thing for me. One, it makes me see this challenging season with a sense of real expectation, purpose and excitement because I can grow here. On the other hand, there’s a piece of me that’s fearful that I’m simply sitting in the corner waiting for it to pass and I’ll come out the other end not with lessons learned but with time wasted.

It’s hard when we have to make decisions in challenging seasons and it feels like we don’t have specific direction. Trust me, I get that. But I’m beginning to wonder if doing the right thing is less important than candidly living through the storm with intention. Troubles come and troubles go, there are many pieces that we have zero control over, but enduring is an action verb. It only happens if we choose to participate in the trouble.

God is in the process of growing us in the same way your trainer at the gym is in the process of growing you. Talking to your trainer about the issues you have or what exercises to do is helpful and necessary to a point, but eventually you have to practice the answers you’ve received. Your trainer cannot workout for you. God does not sanctify you on His own.

Listen carefully here, God is an integral, essential, cornerstone piece to the process of becoming like Him. And, yes, He could force us against our will and puppeteer us through our life, but He doesn’t do that. He teaches us, convicts us, shows us, and then allows us to respond ultimately in belief or unbelief.

There have been seasons where I have failed to take advantage of the trials that have come along. It’s easy to do it. There’s one word among many for it: Netflix. Maybe it’s something different for you, but know this – we live in a world that is built around distraction and sedation. There’s always something to watch and always a way to numb out.

I truly believe that James’ charge is saying more about intentionally engaging through the hard times and less about finding the perfect solution to our problems. Ultimately, we are considered perfect when our endurance is fully developed. What does that look like? Full-developed endurance is found when our hearts are fully fixed on Jesus regardless of our external circumstances. 

What do we do during our troubling times? Fix our hearts on Jesus. Spend time in the Word. Maybe the Bible isn’t going to tell you whether to take that job, date that girl, or move to that city, but the Bible is living and active and it’s a tool that God uses to permeate our being with His Truth. So that, amidst the hard times, we will have the guidance to keep our hearts fixed on Jesus as we go through it.

Do you find yourself in the middle of a storm with clouds of uncertainty on the horizon? Fear not, we serve a God who is with us at all times. Bring your worries and concerns to the Lord (Philippians 4) and cast your cares on Him (1 Peter 5). Friends, God is after our hearts. And it’s especially pertinent in trying times that we choose to remain with Him as He is with us. Let’s not waste the opportunity to grow through trying times, but choose to intentionally engage, together, towards enduring growth.