Life has a way of bringing us face to face with moments that test everything we believe in. James 1:2-3 tells us to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."
As a Division 1 athlete, I learned early that strength isn't built in moments of ease - it's forged in the challenging seasons, in those moments when everything in you wants to give up, but something calls you to keep going. Those early morning practices, the grueling workouts, the moments of doubt - they weren't just about becoming a better athlete. They were teaching me something fundamental about faith and endurance.
Each trial we face is like a weight added to the bar - it might feel heavy at first, might seem nearly impossible to lift. But with each rep, each moment we choose to push through rather than give up, we build spiritual muscle we never knew we had. The beautiful thing about trials is that they strip away our illusions of self-sufficiency, revealing our deep need for something - Someone - greater than ourselves.
When James talks about considering trials as joy, he's not suggesting we paste on a smile during hard times. He's pointing out that these challenges are actually gifts, forming something in us that couldn't be shaped any other way. Just like an athlete's muscles only grow through resistance, our faith only deepens when it's tested.
Sometimes the trials come in ways we don't expect - a sudden loss, a dream deferred, a path that seems blocked. These moments can feel like failure, like we're losing ground instead of gaining it. But often, it's in these very moments that our faith finds its footing, growing stronger with each step forward.
The truth is, trials don't just test our faith - they reveal it. They show us what we really believe when everything else is stripped away. And in those raw moments, when we're pushed beyond what we think we can handle, we often find ourselves standing stronger than we ever imagined possible.
If you're in the middle of a trial right now, remember - this isn't just a test of your strength. It's an invitation to discover a depth of faith you didn't know you had. Every rep counts. Every moment of choosing to trust when you can't see the way forward is building something beautiful in you.
At the end of the day, our greatest growth doesn't come from the trials themselves, but from who we become as we walk through them with God.