Various Trials

 If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram (it feels wrong to even name those names on substack) then you may think my life is a charm. 

Going to England. Watching our son play baseball. Traveling to watch our other son play basketball at different colleges his Senior year. Watching our oldest son start his business. Gearing up for another son to start driving. That will make 5 drivers in our home. 


Which brings me back to the other side of the story. Car insurance. Bills. Supporting the five guys I live with. My husband has a more than full time job as a Pastor but I work more than one job as well. Not counting the “job” of housekeeper, laundry doer, schedule manager, signer of all the papers that the school sends home for three of the four sons, co chauffeur with my husband for two of the younger sons. I digress. 

The “various trials” part that is found in James chapter 1 talks about how we need to “consider it joy when we face trials of many kinds because the testing of our faith can develop perseverance”. 


When I was going through a severe trial, I was talking to another Pastor’s Wife and she was explaining to me the meaning of the ‘various trials’ wording in scripture. She said it means not just one hard thing you’re going through, but many different hard things that you go through so that Christ can get the yucky stuff off of you and out of you so that his brilliance of light and love can shine through you and bring joy to others when they face “trials of many kinds”. (James 1)


Here’s an example of various trials. 


The past month, my son hit a deer in my husband’s truck and totaled it so it was in the shop while we were out of the country. During that time, my husband‘s phone got stolen so then my husband was without his truck and without his phone. Not long after we got back, my debit card got compromised, so I had to get a new card and then go through the hassle of updating that in all of the things that it was tied to. Both of our older son’s accounts got messed up and it affected how they would get paid from their jobs. My email and phone storage was full and would not allow space for me to do what I needed to do. Then the work emails got changed which means more work to do. Then all of the formatting for something at work that I had spent time on disappeared. After my husband‘s truck got fixed then we hit a deer with my car and it was in the shop. $1,000 gone to fix that. 


BUT God has continued to bless us in the midst of all of these little various trials. And I can count the ways in my gratitude journal to keep me positive and thankful. 

But wait there’s more various trails because you see, they are various. Numerous. Different. It’s the little things that can discourage you in a big way. 


I was made aware of another rumor that was going around our small town that was not true, but I’ve learned not to let those bother me anymore because they are simply not true. Our dryer quit working and we finally figured out we have to set it on bedding for it to dry the clothes. We have had mice in our house because we live on a farm and they are turning the fields. All of these are little things, but the devil knows if he can throw a lot of little things on you at the same time it can discourage you from doing the work of God. 


But don’t let it. Keep going. Despite the petty problems or problematic problems or pesky potatoes. I just wanted to say potatoes. Keep your head up. Keep serving the Lord despite the sound system. Despite the computer and phone and email issues. Despite what people may say or think. 


God sees you behind the scenes working hard and living with integrity. Keep it up. Don’t stop. Don’t give in to temptation. Your children are counting on you. The next generation is counting on you. Christ is counting on you. 


Suffer well and consider it a joy my friend! Jesus is developing something strong in us! If we persevere that is.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baby Wonder

I posted earlier about Chamomile and how you can use it in tincture form for babies.  Some of my friends in Kentucky named it Baby Wonder   because they saw how quickly it calmed my baby down!   When my 3 1/2 month old cries during church (or anywhere for that matter) I dip his pacifier (a safe plastic one:) in the chamomile and glycerin tincture and put it in his mouth and he calms down immediately.  He likes the sweet taste of it now and it is perfectly safe.  It has a strong sweet taste you may not like at first but now my baby LOVES it!  Every Mom needs this!   I am about to make a big batch of it next week and mail some.  Leave a comment with your name, address and how much you need if you would like to get some from me.  Adults can take a Tbsp or two to calm them down or get them relaxed for bedtime.   
Read more

When life feels heavy, not merry

Image
The second week of December I have heard several people including myself say that life feels heavy. It’s the holiday season and everywhere we look there are reminders of what others are doing to celebrate this season or what marketers want you to buy for your loved ones.  It’s the season for winter blues or seasonal depression for those who suffer from that. Just when I think I’ve beat it, it rears its ugly head again with a heaviness that makes you tired and unhappy-a battle fought in your own mind and body.  It’s also the time of year when grief can hit hard. Celebrating the holidays when you’ve lost a loved one is not the same. You may feel wrong or guilty for celebrating without them or you may not feel like celebrating at all. What is a “Happy Holiday” for some is a trigger for grief and pain that makes you feel like you want to be left alone.   Dysfunctional families can create chaos, guilt and shame during this time of year. If you deal with people who have been...
Read more

Miscarriage at 4 Months

Image
 I was 4 months pregnant when I had a miscarriage with our baby that would’ve been Titus’ little brother or sister. Yes, we wanted more kids. Call us crazy, but we were the most excited about this one because we were older and felt like we were finally figuring out how to handle parenthood (yeah right).  I never had feared miscarriage. I feared almost everything else though 😅 It was around this time of year that John and I posted our announcement on social media with us in front of our Christmas tree saying that “I was eating Christmas cookies for 2”.  We told our church family in West Virginia . It was during the time when folks were getting the s h o t for c o v i d . Oddly enough, the miscarriage happened after I had been around my sweet neighbors who had just gotten theirs and that was when people talked about the shedding.  Who knows why it happened. A person in my extended family blamed the miscarriage on me the day it happened. My doctor said it’s no one’s ...
Read more