Count it all joy, my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds…
James 1:2-3
James begins his letter found in the New Testiment to his family of faith with a paradox: confronting the trials of life on earth with joy. That just didn’t make any more sense to the early Christians than it does to us. He makes it clear that no one gets out of this life unscathed. In fact, each person won’t experience just one trial but many. His charge to “consider it all joy” is abrasive to our natural response to hardship. Many years living in the body God chose for me and absorbing His word, little by little, that admonision transformed from abrasive to soothing. It is possible to consider the process of confronting adversity with counting it all joy.
At a young ag, a rough and gritty trial changed the course of my life on earth.
I don’t know about you, but, as a child, I didn’t spend much time thinking about the future. I wasn’t an insightful child. Like a butterfly, I just flitted around in my loving and protected little world enjoying all the sunshine and beauty.
Time would reveal that I did indeed have expectations hidden in my head.
My parents genuinely loved and supported one another. Our relationships with grandparents on both sides were loving. Dad worked hard as a successful home builder. Mom took what he brought home and created a sanctuary that we called home. We weren’t rich, but money was never an issue. My parents lived below their means. I and my 2 sisters knew we were love and supported. They presented a united front in parenting and discipline.
I expected the same. That was all I had ever known.
Adversity and adjustment
It never even occurred to me to count it all joy in:
- disability, loneliness, financial chaos, or failure would march right in and invade my life someday
- an afflicted body lasting a lifetime
- the jarring realization that a relationship could bankrupt your heart
- the struggle with financial problems breeding bitterness
- children reflecting the numerous ways I was unfit and unprepared to parent a child with special needs.
Since I was 12 years old, life unfolded in the rhythm of adversity and adjustment.
Just like new tires on your vehicle. They start out gripping the road with stability, no matter how rough is the road. But after a while on those roads with cracks and potholes, the tread wears. Tires can be rotated only so many times before the tread is just worn off. Rotating no longer helps mitigate the wear. I too had rotated and adjusted until I had no tread left.
Considering adversity all joy is a noble concept, as long as you don’t have to live it.
Faith is another noble concept. When living on easy street-with no dependency on things you don’t already possess-can roll off your tongue like poetry.
But then one challenge invades. It doesn’t retreat. Pretty soon another one invades on it’s heels. Finances don’t improve. Relationships don’t mend. Demands on your strength increases. Challenges pile up like snow banks in a blizzard.
When confusion and exhaustion consumes the day, faith becomes the energy to persevere.
Anchors of hope from childhood
Anchors secure a ship in a fixed and safe place. It doesn’t merely sit on top of the ocean’s floor, but embeds itself to resist any forces that might cause drifting into danger and destruction. That holding power of the anchor is paramount.
My venerable physical condition and immaturity were little resistance against forces from within and without. I had no skills to withstand the forces assailing my mind and heart: depression and despair. The places outside my home, the world into which I live is an obstacle course given my physical disability. Fortunately for me, I was small and my dad was strong. Anywhere I couldn’t get to in my wheelchair, he carried me.
Kids with special needs or trying circumstances grow up. If they consider it all joy when he/she must face adversity and adjust will determine how they handle the future storms of life.
The efforts of The Wonderful Counselor were His faithfulness to meet all my needs. Some aspects of His efforts remain a mystery.
The daily efforts of my parents:
- attending church was a way of life
- verbal and physical affirmation that I was loved
- allotting time, resources and provision for anything I needed to improve and flourish
- loving and caring for my grandparents (teaching me I was not the center of the universe)
- provision of opportunities for activities I could participate in and tailored to my interests (reading, art, horses)
- providing me a college education
The Wonderful Counselor and the efforts of my parents secured the anchor from which I adjusted and thrived. As St. James promised, additional adversities blew in to test the holding power of my anchor in my Everlasting Father.
The following is something I wrote to anchor my mind to His promises.
God’s promises
I found myself praying the scriptures of God’s promises when falling apart.
My lifeline became: Consider it all joy when you face various trials…
When parenting demands more than you have, what is your lifeline?
As James promised, additional adversities will blow in to test the holding power of one’s anchor of hope in of the Everlasting Father. Your efforts, coupled with those of the Wonderful Counselor, will strengthen your child(ren) as he/she/they adjust and prosper for tomorrow, next year and in adulthood.
“Consider it all joy” in the raising of your special needs child.
Be encouraged.
It may take years or decades to see the fruit of your labor of love.
I look forward to hearing how you “consider it all joy” with your child(ren).
5 responses to “The Test in Adversity: Count It All Joy, Part 2”
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
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