Say What?!

The other day I finished reading the book of Psalm and I wondered what book of the Bible I should read next. The name "James" popped into my mind so quickly that I literally said "OK God, the book of James it is!". As I opened my Bible this morning to James, I noticed there were many verses in Chapter 1 that were underlined. I quickly realized that God definitely had told me to read James for a reason and I was excited to see what God wanted to teach me. There is definitely a lot to "chew on" in chapter one so I decided that I'm going to spend a few days at least just reading the chapter over and over again and focusing on each verse, one at a time.

There were two verses though that stood out at me this morning. I was journaling about the first one, God showed me how the second one related to what He was trying to show me. I just love when God does that!! James 1: 2 says "Consider it pure job, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds". Now I know this verse continues in verse 3 that "the testing of your faith develops perseverance", but I was focused on just what it said in verse 2. How many times do I praise the Lord or am even just happy when I am faced with a trial? hmm...probably...never! The Lord brought to my mind how frustrated I can get with teaching my kids at home. The first thing I thought of was that I should be happy that I even have the opportunity to teach my kids at home! I know that in my frustration, I don't always say the nicest things. That thought led me right to the other verse that stood out in my reading. Verse 26 says "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." OUCH!!!!! That was like a knife straight through the heart! God definitely was letting me know that I have to watch what I say because my Christian witness depends on it!

This may just have been verses that God was using to speak to me, but I also felt like I needed to share it on here....so I'm being obedient and typing this out for everyone to see. I know it is hard to be thankful for the trials that come your way, but we know that God will teach us something through those trials and for that we can be thankful. I also know it can be very hard to watch what comes out of your mouth when frustrations are at their peak, but we must keep in mind that someone is always watching us. If we claim to be Christians, our actions AND our words must always point others to Christ.