I CAN DO HARD THINGS
James 1:2-4 (NLT)
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
Can you imagine being Jesus’ brother? I have two younger brothers, and they didn’t always appreciate coming after me in school, being known as Ellen’s brother. I, on the other hand, didn’t necessarily see the problem. Anyway...the book of James was written by, you guessed it, James, a younger brother of Jesus. To me, that gives him a pretty unique perspective than the other disciples and followers because James knew Jesus his whole life – as kids, teenagers, students, and carpenter apprentices, and he still followed Him. He recognized that his big brother was the Messiah. My guess is that James came to discover that through some firsthand experience with trouble and endurance.
As the children’s pastor for the past 20 years, I’ve talked to a lot of kids and parents. The research is confirming what I’ve seen over the years: kids need to believe they can do hard things! There is huge benefit when parents allow their kids to experience and work through difficult situations, rather than rescuing them out of them. Troubles offer us the opportunity to discover that we will survive and God can be trusted. Verse 3 of this chapter says that our endurance needs the chance to grow. That only happens when we experience some things all the way through the pain, awkwardness, and uncertainty that difficulties bring. Whether it’s a relationship, work, financial, physical, mental, or any other challenge, James says that it’s an opportunity for great joy. When we see some things all the way through to the end (whether it’s a happy ending or not), there’s relief and joy in realizing we survived, and there’s great joy in discovering that God was with us all the way through. We (and our kids) can and need to discover that we can experience fear, disappointment, frustration, or failure and still cope, problem-solve, recover, and keep going because God is with us and is so very trustworthy and helpful. With Him, we can do hard things!
PRAYER
Thank You, God, that You are for us, with us, and in us. Because of that, we can do hard things. Please help our children and us to face the troubles in this world with strength and joy.