Day 2 - Finding Joy in Hard Times
Reading Passage: 1 Peter 1:3-9
I went to bed knowing that it wouldn’t be long before I would be sitting up on the edge of my bed on standby to flip the thermostat switch that controlled the heat in our motorhome. This wasn’t exactly our vacation camper—it was a temporary home.
Unheard of snow and ice had descended on the youth camp we were living at, causing our heater to work overtime to keep the ice off of the inside windows. Our five kids were burrowed down inside sleeping bags to stay warm.
Not exactly the kind of scene that warms a momma’s heart, at all.
Since the frozen chill would wake my kids up throughout the night, I would stand guard, trying to keep the heater from giving up and the arctic air from blowing in their faces as they stretched across the floor, the table, and the mini-couch.
This season of our lives had so many incredible, hope-building moments and some really hard times too.
Most of us have endured a hard time and we know that those seasons don’t hang on forever - but actually finding JOY in the process is not an easy task.
Cooking dinner on a tiny camp stove and trying to tip-toe over whoever was stretched out in the aisle to start the coffee pot at 6am without shaking and waking the entire family within our 32-foot living space kept me humble for sure!
We sat around at night laughing till we cried, just because the situation felt so out of control.
We were cramped and even though my husband did his very best to minimize clutter and simplify our tiny spaces...STUFF WAS EVERYWHERE.
Socks draped over the driver's seat, muddy boots piled below the side door, clothes for seven but a closet for one, blankets in heaps, pillows stuffed beneath passenger's seat, bathroom bags to take to the community bath, school books in tubs, towels that remained grungy, dirty laundry...and you get the picture friends.
My husband and I struggled to get on the same page at times, as the weight of providing for our family felt heavy and our bright hope began to show signs of dimming.
Our kids did not love the in-between phase and they had their own struggles of feeling alone, while missing home. Fear about the future would creep in and create anxiety in their teenage hearts.
Joy seems to come easily when hope is alive, but can feel absent when we walk through hard times. Are you with me?
In 1 Peter 1, the author Peter introduces some really incredible insight as he writes to the churches in Asia Minor about suffering and how the dark times help us to rejoice not in the temporal pain, but in the refining process as we go through during hard times!
“You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trails so that the proven character of your faith - more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire - may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ,”
Paul speaks to the difficult days in the life of the believers and asks them some really important questions - the same ones we often ask when life doesn’t make sense.
“Why do I have to go through this dark time?”
Maybe your hard times look like living in a motorhome with your family or maybe it looks more like health issues, unknown relational struggles, or disappointments turned to deep depression.
Dive into 1 Peter 1:3-9 and discover how God grows us through the hard times by helping us see the beauty that can come from living in the tough places.
Have you ever experienced suffering that resulted in a stronger faith in God? How is it possible to experience joy in the midst of hard times?
Written by: Jenny Howell