Life can feel like one challenge after another. Some days it’s a small bump, other days it’s a full-on mountain. Whether these moments strengthen or shake us depends on how we see adversity—and how we respond.
James challenges us with a surprising perspective:
“Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2).
Why? Because trials are often where God does His deepest work. Growth, maturity, and resilience are rarely forged in comfort—they’re born in pressure. If we lean in, hardship becomes a refining fire, not just a painful season.
Moses said it plainly in Psalm 90:10:
“The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Life is short. And hard. But every difficulty is an opportunity—to deepen our faith, build spiritual strength, and discover purpose in the middle of the pain.
Take David. In 1 Samuel 30, he returned from battle to find his town destroyed and his family taken. His own men turned on him. He was, understandably, “greatly distressed... but David found strength in the Lord his God.”
That moment changed everything—not because the trial disappeared—but because David anchored himself in God.
You and I face our own battles—grief, stress, family tension, job loss, uncertainty. The question is: where do you turn when life overwhelms you? The pain may not vanish, but turning to God gives us strength, perspective, and peace that nothing else can.
James isn’t inviting us to deny our pain—he’s showing us how to find purpose in it. Trials can shape us for good. If you’re facing something heavy right now, don’t run. Don’t isolate. Stop, breathe, and turn to God. Invite Him into the chaos. That simple act of surrender can be the beginning of transformation.
Let your desire for deeper connection with Him outweigh your desire for escape. That’s worship. That’s strength. That’s how we grow.
It’s not the absence of challenges that defines us—it’s how we walk through them.
With you,
~ Coach Tom
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P.S. ... If you are stalled in life, or particularly if you are in transition, here are three ways I can help you Get Clear, Get Focused and Be Fruitful!
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