Sunday, April 4, 2010

Joy because of Pain, not in spite of it.

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while now, but I keep putting it off. But today, considering everything that has been going on, not only in our team but also in my friends and other people around us, it feels especially appropriate. I’m talking about trials. All three of us have been going through some really rough stuff lately. I think there was one week when all three of us were hit with different things pretty bad. And for me personally, I’m having a very trial-iffic year. I’ve experienced more family drama than I’ve ever had to deal with, and then a little over a month ago, just weeks after we decided to go on this trip, my house was broken into and all of my stuff was stolen. It sucked. I’m not trying to sit here and tell you how bad my life is, or that you should feel sorry for me. Actually I feel incredibly blessed and I’ve felt closer to God this past month than I have in a long time. He is amazing. I write about this because this is my life right now, and I can feel God working in me like never before. It’s a good feeling.

James chapter 1 says:

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James is my favorite book of the Bible, and this is one of my favorite passages. God wants us to be joyful when our lives are falling apart. I love that. I want to be like that. I try to be like that. I’ve just got to throw myself into Him because He’s all I’ve got, and that becomes even more apparent when life isn’t so great. No matter how bad things may get here, He never changes and He is always great. Honestly trials excite me (maybe not right away; the days after my dad moved out were not quite exciting for me) because I know that God is doing something in me. At the end of it all I want to be “not lacking anything,” and all the growing that comes from these trials is going to make me a better Christian with a more mature faith and relationship with Him, and I’ll be better equipped to serve Him. I don’t think that a year ago I was mature enough in my faith to go on a two-month mission trip to a foreign country. But a lot can change in a year, and a lot has. I know that I’m closer to God today than I was a year ago, and though I might never be fully prepared for whatever I’m going to experience this summer, I’m closer to maturity now than ever.

I’ve got faith that God knows what He’s doing.


A few people have expressed worry to us that maybe the reason we’re going on this trip is to get away from all of our troubles. I understand why someone might think that. We’re three friends who are having kind of a bad run right now and two months away from family and all of that drama would be great. But for us that is not the case. When I first started thinking and praying about this trip the thought of leaving to get away from everything never crossed my mind. The bottom line is that I’m going to serve God, to serve and have an incredible experience that I get to share with people that are very close to me. But going to “get away” is not one of my reasons for this trip. People might say that all the bad things that are happening might be a reason for me to leave and run away, but I see the trials as confirmation that this trip is what I’m supposed to be doing. They’re confirmation not because it’s further proof that life sucks and I might as well leave now but rather because every bad thing is an attack, a reason to stay and deal with everything here. If I let my family problems consume me then I’ll lose sight of the amazing journey I’ve started in this trip. If I focus on my problems then I’m making things about myself rather than about God and I’m not letting myself serve Him. Satan does not want us to go to the Dominican Republic. Each of us has been attacked in one form or another. I’m joyful for the pain because it’s Satan’s attempt to get me away from God’s work.


In all of this we’ve been able to stand by each other, supporting each other, and holding each other up. In the midst of broken relationships, financial worries, the stress of school, discouraging friends, and more family drama than any college students should have to go through we’ve all been there, right there, for each other with encouragement and prayers like nothing else. I feel truly blessed to have these two people in my life, not only as teammates, but also as incredible friends. I feel like because we’ve gone through all of these different things together, supporting and encouraging each other, that we are closer friends and teammates than we ever would have been if our lives were great and there was nothing to complain about. As far as our trip goes, I feel that all of our shared experiences, and every opportunity to encourage, pray, and just be there for each other has been the best training for this summer.

God is going to get us through all the crap. He is all we have. All I can do is encourage my friends towards Him, and they do the same for me. And every hard day, every bit of pain; it’s been a pure joy. 

-Matthew

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