“Consider it all joy, my brother, when you encounter various trials,

knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance

and let endurance have its perfect results,

so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  (NASB)

James 1:2-4

I can’t honestly say that I like trials or challenges but yet they are a part of life.  The important thing is that we can choose how we respond to those challenges and grow from them.  It has been said, “How we allow our afflictions to affect us, whether we give up or endure, whether we become bitter or compassionate, is our choice.”  Learning to rejoice in the midst of the storm doesn’t just happen overnight but it’s like an endless tutorial we have to take over and over again and each time we learn how to respond a little bit better next time.

DECLARATION:  I will choose to respond to my challenges with an

uplifting, joyful attitude realizing they are teaching me.