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Published Friday, January 27, 2012 in Opinion

Steadfast

Oh, to remain steadfast. Just to be able to say to God and ourselves that we have remained steadfast in our faith. But what about when trials hit and we suffer the injuries as the difficulties tear at the most fragile edges of the faith we embrace?

Like Job, some of us go through trials that seem impossible to endure. The suffering is uncharted territory, desperately unfamiliar, and the only way we navigate is in darkness with no compass and no reference. We pray. We ask our friends to pray, but our hearts are heavily burdened.

Being faithful in our prayers while going through a trial is one thing, listening to God, is clearly another. But what about being joyful? Seriously? Joyful for the pain? Joyful for the heartache?

James 1:2-3 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."

One thing I love about this scripture is that it doesn't say WHEN we will count it all as joy. It doesn't say we are expected to be joyful throughout the experience. I believe that during the trial itself we are to do everything we can to be steadfast by being faithful in prayer, faithful in knowing that God is in control and faithful at laying that burden at the foot of the cross. Yes, we are going to go back time and time again to check on that burden, to see if it is lying there or is it out of our hands and into the mighty arms of Jesus. What we can pray for during the trial is that we will receive God's direction as we go through it so that we will become what He has designed us to be for Him.

I love that.

We all know others who have been through unbelievable difficulty. Our trials do not even begin to compare to the heartache and pain they have endured. But our own trials, the ones that have broken and changed us, have most likely been the worst we could imagine because our reference point has moved. It's like a woman in childbirth. She's had physical pain at times in her life, headaches, illnesses, things that caused her to long for the pain to subside. And then she experiences transition as her tiny babe begins to enter the world. With no medication involved, this woman now has a brand new barometer, a new reference point for pain. And it's big.

I recall being anything but joyful during transition in the births of two my children. Two and three decades later I can honestly say being "joyful" was simply impossible. And then I saw them. First a daughter, and four years later a son. I had true, immediate joy with God upon seeing each of them for the first time, but during? I don't think so. And the scripture clearly says "trials of various kinds". I think it is safe to say that experiencing great physical discomfort and remaining steadfast is a true trial of faith.

And what a blessing that our trials vary so! In a group of steadfast believers there are strengths of so many varieties that we can truly hold one another up in faith and prayer. One person's difficulties may seem small, but they are indeed the greatest that person has experienced and that makes it tremendous for the person who is enduring it at the time. Whether it is physical pain, downright heartache, temptations or tests, we will suffer as differently from one another as night and day. Our faith is varied as well, and our previous experiences of going to God with our pain are where the reference point of our endurance and steadfast faith become merged together. It is where we are at the end that tells us of our steadfast faith. Did we grow? Did we recede? Either outcome, God loves us and is patient. He will love us through it regardless.

And it is with that we can be comforted. God will grow us into His own design for us if we are steadfast in our faith. And when it is over, no matter how weak we became we have hope and comfort. God allowed the enemy to nearly destroy Job. James 5:11 tells us that Job was steadfast. But was he joyful? Read all about it in Job. In the end he repented and God restored him beyond Job's imagination.

Oh, to remain steadfast. We can rejoice when it is over if we aren't strong enough during our trials. God is patient and He is loving. God will deliver us.

Kathy Bohannon is a Georgia Press Association award winner and regular contributor to the Newnan Times-Herald. Kathy can be reached at kathybohan@yahoo.com.

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