Finding Joy in Trials: How Hard Times Build Your Faith | James 1:1-4

“Consider it nothing but joy” might be one of the most misunderstood commands in the New Testament, especially when you’re staring down real stress, real fear, and a season you didn’t choose. We open James 1:1–4 and talk about what that line actually means, why it’s not pretending everything is fine, and how tested faith can produce endurance that changes you from the inside out.

That shift is where spiritual growth starts to become real.

You’ll hear a track and field training analogy that makes endurance feel tangible, plus a practical exercise you can do today. If you’re looking for Christian encouragement, a short devotional on joy in trials, or a Bible study reflection on the Book of James, this is a steady place to land. Subscribe for weekly devotionals, share this with a friend who needs hope, and if you feel led, leave a review so more people can find it.

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Transcript

Welcome And Devotional Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up everyone? You're listening to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast episode 112. This week's devotional is titled Finding Joy in Trials, How Hard Times Build Your Faith, Study of James. Let's go. Hi, I'm Jesse Morgan. I used to just share home decor and renovation tips on social media, but now I'm sharing something even closer to my heart. My journey in love for Jesus Christ, my savior. Welcome to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Hawk Podcast. This is a weekly devotional I started back in May 2024, but the inspiration for it came much earlier. It was rooted in a faith journey that began when my daughter was born four months early in 2023. Through that challenging time, God worked in ways that truly amazed me. On this podcast, I share personal stories of faith woven together with Scripture to show just how incredible God's word can be in our everyday lives. My hope is that through these stories, you'll be encouraged, uplifted, and reminded of God's love and presence, no matter what you're going through. So I invite you to spend less than 15 minutes with me each week as we reflect on these devotionals together. Let's all pray within.

Finding Joy In Trials

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Finding joy in trials, how hard times build your faith.

Why James Focuses On Real Faith

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Welcome back to the podcast. We are starting a study on the book of James. And I'm really excited to focus on more books within the New Testament because it really teaches you, you know, to understand the mindset of Jesus Christ, how to live your day life, you know, Christ-like. It's it's just really applic a lot of application that you can take from it. So I'm excited to start this journey with you. So let's go on to James. So first we're starting off with um James 1, 2 through 4. Really, James 1, 1 through 4 is really what we're going to focus in on today. So I'm really, really excited about this. Anyway, so the book of James is such a practical book. It's about genuine faith. Um, not just saying you believe in God, but what faith actually looks like in your everyday life. How do you represent, um, how do you not reset? Sorry, how do you respond when life gets hard? How do you treat people? What do your actions say about what you truly believe? How does your faith show up when you're in the middle of something you did not choose? And as I go through James, I really want to take my time. I want to read a few verses, stop, reflect, and you know, go from there with you. And then ask, how does this actually apply to my life?

Joy That Comes From Testing

SPEAKER_00 2:28

So today we're starting with James 1, 1 through 4. And James begins by introducing himself. In James 1, 1, it says, James, a bond servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And then immediately James gives us an instruction. When you first read it, it it sounds a bit crazy. So in James 1, 2, it says, by the way, I'm using the amplified Bible, just so you guys know. But in James 1, 2, it says, consider it nothing but joy whenever you fall into various trials. And I'm thinking joy during a trial. Because when I'm going through something difficult, my first thought is usually not, this is wonderful. I'm so joyful right now. Let me think about the positive. Like, no, I don't automatically think that. I'm being real. I want the situation fixed, I want the problem gone, I want God to tell me when it's gonna be over. But you can't stop at just verse two, because verse three explains why James tells us to consider our trials as joy. And one in James 1:3, it says, Be assured that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And that's when it started clicking for me. Maybe the joy isn't necessarily about what I'm going through. Maybe the joy is about what God can produce me, what pro what God can produce in me through what I'm going through. The trial isn't necessarily, you know, joy, but there can be joy and knowing that God is using it. There can be joy in knowing that my faith is getting stronger. There can be joy in knowing that I'm developing endurance I didn't have before.

Stadium Workouts As A Faith Picture

SPEAKER_00 4:08

And immediately I thought about track and field. And if you've ever listened to me on this podcast for a while, you know I ran track and field University of Alabama, roll tide. And um, there was one workout um in college that I just absolutely hated. I mean, I'm 39 years old right now, and I still think about that workout, and it gives me a little bit of chills. And I believe we did it on Tuesdays, if I'm not mistaken. We would get to the track, jog our warm-up laps, stretch for probably 30 to 35 minutes, and then our coach would tell us, okay, we're jogging to the stadium. And I'm already thinking, why are we going to the stadium? Like that was my first time when I first went through this my freshman year. Now, if you've ever been to the University of Alabama, you know or seen it on TV, you know you've seen Bryant Denny Stadium. It's massive, it holds like 101,000 people. Huge. So we leave the track and jog probably a mile, mile and a half to that stadium. But getting there wasn't the workout. That was basically the warm-up for the for the actual workout. We get inside and start doing stadium circuits, frog leaps, up the bleachers, and not like, oh, 10 bleachers, like 30 bleachers. Um, one-legged hops, sprints upstairs, over and over and over again. Your legs would be burning, your bot, your body would be exhausted. And we'd be doing this probably for 30 to 40 minutes. The coach would then say, Okay, jog back to the track. And I remember jogging back like the first two times or so was much slower than before, and my legs were like jumbo. But in my mind, I'm like, okay, like especially that first time, okay, we survived, practice has to be over. Nope. I get back to the track, and the coach tells us, put on your trainers. And that's when I knew 150s for anyone who doesn't know track, one lap is 400 meters. We're running 150 meter repeats fast. And coach would pair us with people who ran pair us with people who ran around the same speed, which meant these weren't casual little runs. They we were competing. We run the 150, walk around briskly, come back and do it again. We did it eight times. And remember, we had already jogged to the stadium, destroyed our legs and the bleachers, and jogged back. Now we're sprinting. I hated that workout, hated it. The first couple of weeks I dreaded Tuesdays. I was like, do I have a test that I can't make it to practice? Am I sick? There were moments where I genuinely thought I don't want to do this anymore. But something happened as the season continued. I got stronger. Eventually, we stopped doing the stadium portion and started focusing more on the 150s. Then the 150s became timed, then we started wearing our spikes, then our recovery time got shorter. And by January, February of my freshman year, I was in shape. Not just physically, mentally. The stadium stairs strengthened my legs and my core, of course. The repetitions built, you know, um, you know, good form and endurance. The exhaust the exhaustion taught me how to keep going when my body wanted to stop. And mentally, I stopped approaching the workout. I started, I stopped approaching the workout, you know, saying like I can't do this, to I started approaching the workout with a different mindset that was let me get through it. And eventually all that training prepared me for the thing that actually mattered: the meat, racing, competing, finishing the race, running a personal best. And while James, yes, all that came from the James comment, but James verse, but while studying James, I thought, that's faith.

Let Endurance Do Its Work

SPEAKER_00 7:51

And in James 1:4, it says, Let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work. And in other words, don't waste the trial. Let God do something through it. And that made me ask myself a different question. Instead of only asking, God, when are you going to get me through this? Maybe sometimes we need to ask, God, what are you developing in me while I'm here? That's different. What is this producing in me? Maybe you're learning patience. Maybe you're learning to trust God when you can't, you know, out control the outcome. Maybe you're learning that your security can't come from a job. Maybe you're learning that you don't need every answer before taking the next step. Maybe you're discovering how much you actually depend on God. That's endurance.

Losing A Job And Facing Fear

SPEAKER_00 8:39

And I'm living this lesson right now, to be honest. Finding joy in a season I didn't choose. I'm going to share something I haven't really shared publicly yet, but in July, my job was eliminated. And that was really hard. Really, really hard. And earlier this year, my company went through a restructuring. Before that happened, though, I felt like things were going incredibly well for me in early spring. I had programs I was preparing to launch. Um, there were conversations about my growth and promotion. Leadership was excited about the work. Then the organization changed. Responsibilities changed. The team changed. And slowly I started noticing my calendar getting a bit emptier. Somebody might hear that and think, you're getting paid. You don't have to work as much. Sounds amazing. Not for me. It was extremely difficult because I like contributing. I like building things. I like having responsibility. I like knowing I'm adding value. And then at the end of July, I found out my position was being eliminated. That hit me with like one of my biggest fears. Security. I worry about money. I worry about bills. I worry about whether we're doing enough. I worry about my daughter. I worry about our home. A job represents security for me. So losing that security blanket scared me. But here's where James 1-2 is challenging for me. Consider it nothing but joy whenever you fall into various trials. And if I only stare at the trial, I'm gonna miss the joy that God has placed right beside it. Because even in this situation, there's been joy. My company provided support that has given my family some breathing room. I've had people reach out to me about opportunities. I've received, you know, some DM LinkedIn posts from recruiters. I've been networking. There are multiple opportunities I'm really excited about. And I'm seeing God provide in ways I wasn't expecting. I don't know exactly where I'm going next, but I can see God moving. And something else happened the same day that puts all this into perspective.

Relief And Uncertainty In One Day

SPEAKER_00 10:56

The day that I lost my job, my daughter had another MRI. We had been monitoring her ventricles and her brain and her shunt, of course. And as a mother, I'm thinking about everything that could happen if something isn't working correctly for her. Another procedure, another surgery, another hospital stay. All of those things and all of those thoughts started running through my mind. But we received good news. She was stable, she was doing well, and I was so thankful. Then about an hour later, I found out I lost my job. So think about that. On the same day, I experienced tremendous relief and tremendous uncertainty. Joy and trials existed in the same day, and maybe that's what some of us need to understand is joy doesn't mean the trial disappears. Joy can exist in the midst of it.

The Joy Beside The Struggle Exercise

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Try this exercise. I did this on my own. Recently, I challenged myself to do something, and I want you to try it too. Take a piece of paper, or you know, your phone, it's up to you. And you have to do a make make a chart in your phone if you do that. Um, on one side, write down the challenges you're dealing with right now, and then on the other side, write what is joy, where is the joy? What is still going right, or something like that? Where can you see God's provision? What prayer has already been answered? Who has God placed around you? What do you have today that you prayed for years ago? Like that concept on the other side. And because of this and all of that, I could identify joy beside every struggle. And that's so powerful. Because our minds naturally want to stare at the biggest problem in the room. But gratitude redirects our attention towards what God is still doing. And I have so much to be grateful for. I look at my daughter and I see how much progress she's making. Her speech is developing, she's repeating more things, she's learning, she's growing. I'm thankful for the people God has placed around her who pour into her every single day and help with her development. I'm thankful for my husband. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my friends. Um, I'm thankful for even in the career transition, doors are opening. And I'm thankful that God has provided for us. And in the midst of like this weird job situation, my father-in-law came to visit and he comes for weeks at a time, almost like a month at a time. And you know what? This was like the perfect timing for him to be here because he's so helpful, he's so fun, and he's just a great distraction and he's very supportive. And it's like that's what you need right now. So I'm just thankful like God placed him here at the right time. And you know what? In all this, the trial is real, but so is the joy. I've seen this before. And when I think about endurance, I can't help but think about everything our family went through when my daughter was born. That experience changed my faith. There were so many things I couldn't control, which were, of course, doctors, nurses, specialist procedures, the machines, the tests, uh, waiting forever. So much waiting. And I had to depend on God in a way I never had before, and my husband as well. That trial didn't make me love God less. My faith grew. It made me appreciate my daughter more, it made me appreciate my husband more, it made me appreciate the nurses, the doctors, the pediatric specialists in a different way. It made me appreciate things I probably would have overlooked before. And that doesn't mean I have to choose, I have to choose the trial. It doesn't mean that I would have like, you know, chosen it per se. Um, but it means that I can look back now and recognize that God produced in me through it, gave me endurance through that. And that's exactly what James 1.3 tells us. The testing of your faith produces endurance.

Daily Practices That Build Endurance

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Build your endurance. So if you're going through something right right now, I want to challenge you. Build your endurance, read God's word, pray, listen to a devotional, start your morning with God, even if it's five minutes. And when you you're tempted to obsess over everything that's going wrong, intentionally look for what is still good. What does bring you joy? Find those small joys, thank God for them. Then thank Him again tomorrow. Because the more you recognize God's faithfulness in the middle of uncertainty, the more you're strengthening that faith muscle. It's like those stadium workouts. You may hate the workout, you may be exhausted, you may wonder why have you been why do I have to keep climbing these stairs? And God may not show you the entire race just yet. But something is being built. Your endurance, your patience, your dependence on him, your faith. So whenever your stadium workout is right now, whatever the challenge is going on right now, whatever has your legs shaking spiritually and has you thinking, God, I cannot do another rep. Remember James 1, 2 through 3. And I'm gonna say it again. Here it goes. Consider it nothing but joy whenever you fall into various trials, because the testing of your faith produces endurance. The trial is not the whole story. Ask yourself, what is this producing in me? Then look around. Where's the joy? Because it might already be there.

Prayer And Closing Encouragement

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word and for the reminder in James that even in our trials you're still working. Help us to find joy in the middle of hard seasons, to trust you through um through the uncertainty, and to allow our faith to grow stronger through every single trial. Build our endurance, help us to recognize your goodness, Lord, around us and remind us that the trial is not the whole story. Father, we just love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Love you all. Till next time, continuing James. Well, that wraps up this week's episode. I hope these devotions help you draw closer to God each day. If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who might need the same message. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a weekly episode. Also, if you feek if you feel compelled, leaving a nice review would be so appreciated as well. For more information or to reach out, check the show notes or visit jessymorganhome.com or find me on Instagram at JessieMorganLife. Remember, God's timing is always perfect. Keep trusting Him. Until next time, this is Jesse Morgan praying off.