Some of the hardest words in all of Scripture are found right here:

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” -James 1:2–3 (KJV)

Let’s be honest—nobody wakes up in the morning asking God for trials. We don’t pray, “Lord, give me something hard today.” Yet James says when the hard days come—and they will—we’re invited to count it all joy.

Not because the trial feels good.

Not because the pain is pleasant.

But because we know something.

James says the trying of your faith is working something in you. God isn’t wasting your struggle. He’s using it. Every pressure-filled moment is strengthening spiritual muscles you didn’t even know you had. Faith that’s never tested is faith that’s never trained.

Patience doesn’t show up overnight. It’s forged in the fire. It’s shaped in the waiting room. It’s built when you keep trusting God even when answers are slow and the road is rough.

Here’s the encouragement today: what you’re walking through is not the end of the story. God is developing endurance in you—steady faith, settled trust, unshakable hope. And one day you’ll look back and realize the trial didn’t break you… it built you.

So take heart. Hold on. Stay faithful.

God is at work in you—and He’s not finished yet.