James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Yesterday my daughter went on an 11 hour round trip outing with her school to tour a couple of colleges. Because she is also fasting during this time, she packed herself several fasting friendly snacks. For lunch, the students were told they would be stopping at a fast food restaurant so my daughter figured she would purchase a salad. What she didn't count on was the "change of plan". After touring the 1st college the tour guide escorted them to a waiting area with 10 boxes of pizza... the college decided to feed the students before continuing on with their journey. This was hard for her but the "cherry on top" was that it was from her favorite pizza place, Double Dave's. She knew she had to be strong so she tried to stay as far away from the pizza as possible. The teachers were going from student to student making sure everyone had a chance to eat. One student, my daughter told me about, said he didn't want to eat due to nausea. Well, this caused the 1st aid kit to be pulled out and the student was asked a series of questions about his health. The teachers and administrators surrounded him trying to get to the bottom of his nausea. My daughter, seeing all the commotion, decided it would be easier to hide from the teachers who were going student to student, ducking behind different friends. When it was finally time to board the bus and head to their next destination she breathed a sigh of relief and pressed on the remainder of the day. They arrived back home and one of the first things she said was, "It was hard but I did it. I passed up the pizza."
Every time we face a trial we should remember to consider it pure joy. I'm sure she wasn't "feeling the joy" while she was going through her "pizza trial" but the huge smile on her face at the end of the day was a definite sign of her faith producing perseverance.
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