Facing trials with pure joy

Here's my verse for the week:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

James 1:1-3

This morning Sean called me asking for the local police department's number. The family company's work trailer has been stolen. This held a LOT of our equipment. At least $5k worth and is holding us back from getting our work done. We have filed a report and praying for God to lead the police or us to it. I am praying for a word of knowledge. We are also praying that the insurance will cover any losses if it comes to it.

My father works for the City of Winter Park. The city is going through a big budget cut. He is in a meeting today about how this will effect his insurance coverage. As you know, my mom is recovering from breast cancer and needs to continue some medical treatments and doctor visits. How will this effect her care? We are praying for favor for my father.

As most of you know, my sister Rachel recently ran away from home for 5 days. She came back safely, praise God, but we have found that she has been leaving during the night and coming back home early morning the past couple weeks. We are grateful that she is coming back home but also very concerned for her safety as she is a 16 year old girl out in the middle of the night! This has had a large effect on my family, especially my mom. Unfortunately, my mom is just heart broken (as I would be too) and therefore it has negatively effected everything in her life, including looking forward to Hailey making her presence. That in turn has been very hard for me to deal with. I am praying for safety and wisdom for my sister and healing for my family.

So, with these things going on presently (besides trying to get this baby out!), I am confronted with the challenge to praise God through the storm. No matter what is going on in my life, I will have joy. Challenges/trials present the opportunity to let God rise up in us and overcome, giving God the glory. We learn many things through trials, gaining faith and perseverance. It prepares us to face the next one coming, which will come whether we are ready or not. We also get to add to the list of testimonies of what God has done for us! And then God can use us more. So, this is good... trials are a good thing!