My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Jame 1: 2-4 Several months ago I talked about that fact that it's OK to not be OK when we hit the trials and storms of life. This is still true and what I'm going to share with you today does not contradict those verses or that post of mine. That might seem like a paradox-how is it OK to not be OK during trials-and yet find joy at the same time? This is one of those things that you definitely could not understand as an unbeliever, and sometimes even Christians have trouble with grasping. I am learning this valuable lesson first hand, however. Though I still hate this deployment, though I still am grieving my grandpa, and though we've continued struggling with sickness as the after effect of our immune systems being wiped out, lately I've been finding … [Read more...]