Fighting Frustrations

My Mum teaches a bible study and right now they're studying the book of James.  It starts out "Count it all JOY my brothers, whenever you face trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." There are times I want to cut those verses right out the bible because they are a little too convicting and there are times when all I can do is say them over and over and over again to myself, fighting to believe that God is working this for good in my life. These past few days, I've been more interested in just tearing the whole book of James right outta the bible!! So, rather than tearing the book out, I've been reading the Psalms, partly because it's been quite a while since I've read through them all, but mostly because it provides the perfect countdown till Matt and I get married - 46 days, for those who are interested :) In the Psalms though, it also says "As a father has compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:13-14) While I suppose you could choose to be insulted by this because it says we're dust, it offers the sweetest encouragement. Dust supports nothing, it simply piles on top of itself. It gets into places that it shouldn't and is rather pathetic and annoying. Knowing that we are dust is good because it explains why we can't handle anything on our own, and when we do the situation only gets worse. Our frames are fragile, unable to support anything, yet we have a Father who has compassion on us. That is why we count trials joy -- they are they perfect reason to run to rest in the perfect support, the arms of a Heavenly Father. Praise Him for that!

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