Count it All Joy

I love the encouragement and excitement that comes from studying the Word of God with friends. It's been great to read all of the comments from those of you studying James with me this summer. Yesterday, I sat across from Erica (one of my fellow studiers of James) and saw the excitement on her face as she discussed the first portion of James 1 and talked about how she had been committing the passage to memory.

This morning I received an email from Deanna, another friend studying James this summer. She attached the above photo to her email. It was taken on her niece's recent trip to Africa. This little boy's name is Richard and he lives in an AIDS ravaged area. Deanna wrote:

This picture reminded me of what we are studying in James. Even though we do not know if he is going through a great trial right now, or if he sees it around him or maybe his whole life has been a trial and he doesn’t know any different, but when I look at it, I just think about how this might be what God wants us to look like as we go through stuff. It may not be reality when we go through something major but it is something to strive for.

So, I encourage you, count it all joy today...no matter what you are facing.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. --James 1:2-4