Fly me back...to where my home is?

i just love the book of james, "consider it pure joy, my brothers (and sisters!), whenever you face trials of many kinds". i mean...that is one friendly opening. are you being persecuted? rejoice! are you homeless and hungry? rejoice! do you have no money to see you through the school term? rejoice! is a family member very ill? rejoice! easier said than done...but james doesn't leave it at that, "because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything". ah...so that's what all those trials are about? to grow us into completion. isn't there an easier way? it's comforting, in some way, to know that the trials we go through are not pointless, that there is a purpose to them. doesn't make them more fun, but maybe makes them more bearable. but what if our trials look more like, why won't this pimple go away? or why won't dad sponsor my 100th video game of the month? or why won't my hair lie flat? puny and insignificant as these things are, as we look at them from the inside-out as they happen they can be overwhelmingly large...james refers to trials of many kinds - big, small, long-term, short-term...the point is to look at them with the right spirit. "if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God"...how often we fail to do that, i fail to do that. when i have such a wonderful resource at hand to see me through every circumstance, why don't i tap into it? am i afraid that God will say no...that i will turn out too undeserving of receiving wisdom from him? no, God "gives generously to all without finding fault"...wow, looks like i should start opening my mouth to ask and my spirit to receive. there is one condition, "but when he asks, he must believe and not doubt"...my heart must believe that God will answer, and that might just be the hardest part of all...how many times do we limit our prayers and down-size them because we think...nah, God couldn't do that...or...maybe he could, but he's not going to do that for me. if there's anything i've learnt over the last month, it's that praying big and praying specifically really works! God isn't tied down by our human frames of time and space and logical possibilities. in fact, more often than not, he answers prayers in the least expected ways. "consider it pure joy"...that's something that becomes easier to do when we think about it in the light of God's grace, goodness and power.
"Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul."
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