Friday Journaling Prompt...
Happy Friday friends!
How’s your week going? I hope you’re staying warm and starting to see the first signs of Spring.
We’ve had the most snowfall in over 18 years here in Colorado and for us “newbies” to this kind of weather it has been very interesting. We couldn’t leave the house for 4 days, mail couldn’t get here, and showers were cold b/c the hot water wouldn’t heat up. Our road out front wasn’t plowed because our neighbors son got his SUV stuck in front, and when my husband tried to help get him out in the middle of a blizzard HIS Jeep got stuck too! What a week, right? We’re doing better now and getting ready for, get this… ANOTHER snow storm starting in a couple days! Remind me why we moved to Colorado again? hahaha
With all of this housebound nonsense, I have been editing my manuscript during this snowpocalypse and it’s been an emotional (dare I say torturous) time. Chapters 5 I share my dad’s story and Chapter 6 is about the year we took off to travel the world. Both stories stir my heart in ways that I have a hard time expressing on paper, plus having to harness the English language and shape it into strong sentences is not my strong suit. But, the miracles of God and the purpose in both these chapters is so impactful I want to do honor to the Lord for all that He has done. I can’t wait for you to read them!
This week has created this “perfect storm” (…pun intended) because I’ve been reading through James this week, and we also celebrated St. Patrick’s life.
I’m not sure if you saw my post on St. Patrick on IG, but did you know He was actually Italian?? I’m not kidding here. His father was a Roman diplomat living in England when he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a kid. I added an article by IrishCentral.com on my IG that was a funny take from an Italian perspective. You can read the story here.
Now we already love St. Patrick and the day we get to celebrate him around the world. As Christians, we also love him for spreading the gospel throughout Ireland. And how can you not admire his humbleness, mixed with boldness in the face of being kidnapped at 16 years old, sold into slavery and then returning to Ireland to preach the gospel to those who enslaved him?!
Reading James 1 this week and learning about St. Patrick and all the hardships he went through his entire life, it was confirmation that he embodied the following verses:
Listen to James 1: 2-4
“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.”
There is so much wisdom packed into the book of James, I’d encourage you to read all of James 1 this weekend and see the richness of this Chapter.
Which leads me to this Friday’s Journaling Prompt:
How can we consider our trials “Pure Joy?”
Pure joy is used in another translation for this text. But any way you look at it, trials aren’t enjoyable… thus the definition…. trials. So how can we change our mindset on them? How can we examine them in this light? And what exactly does “steadfastness” mean? Let’s take a look at that word:
Steadfast = Immovable. Firm in belief, established.
As I was going through the two chapters of my manuscript this week that I mentioned above, it hit me that another person who lived his life with so much trial, yet praised God for all of it, was my dad. He had pain for over 35+ years of his life, every day, yet he was able to see the hand of God in his life is such amazing ways that he THANKED God for it. It’s an amazing story I hope I do justice to. My dad was steadfast in his faith, he had a firm belief that God plans were good. I don’t think I would have been so steadfast…
So can we look at our trials and consider them as “pure joy” if we understand that they are designed by God for a purpose?
What if we remind ourselves they could be in our lives to develop a more Christ-like character in us… which should be our ultimate goal as a believer in Jesus Christ, right?
All things I’m going to think about this weekend and spend some time journaling about. These are not easy questions and I don’t expect them to have easy answers. The life of a believer isn’t neat and perfect and tied up in a nice bow. But we need to delve into these questions and see what the Lord is trying to show us in them.
Here’s a page in my devotional journal that I had fun adding some pretties to this week. (I used the Spring European Journaling Kit that’s in our shop)
I hope you’ll join me in journaling this Friday’s prompt, and I’d love to hear how the Lord has shown you ways to live out the verses above.
Have a GREAT weekend everyone!
Hugs to all,
Laura McCollough