Joy in Trials? Are You Kidding Me?

By Bethany Smith, New Orleans, LA

December 20, 2017. I am anticipating the holidays and looking forward to being with our two-year-old daughter as she and our family enjoy our first Christmas when she at least has a clue as to what is going on. I happen to touch one of my breasts. I feel something odd. I was never good at doing the suggested routine monthly check for tumors, but that day I notice something that concerns me. I can be a bit of a hypochondriac. Maybe it is nothing. But I mention it to my husband. He encourages me to see someone so I can have some peace of mind going into the holidays.

I make an appointment and a few days later see the physician’s assistant in my doctor’s office. She isn’t concerned about what I had found but about a differently lumpy spot. Just to be safe she orders me a mammogram the day before my husband and daughter and I plan to go out of town for the holidays.

When the doctor came in her first words were not very encouraging, “I don’t want to leave you in the dark too long, but I want to take a look.” That’s not usually what you would say if you don’t see anything concerning! I will never forget her next words that slammed into my mind, “I am 97% sure it’s cancer.” My eyes welled with tears, while trying to hold it together to make sense of these ridiculous words that were coming out of her mouth. They wouldn’t know for sure or how bad it was until after the biopsy which would be scheduled after Christmas.

She attempted to console me and encouraged me to try and have a good holiday. I guess it was comforting that she wasn’t overly concerned it would get worse in a couple of weeks but it was still very hard to swallow, not really knowing how bad this was. I thought, “have a good Christmas? That is going to be impossible.” December 20, 2017, was a tough day for me.

Somehow, I pulled myself together, and considering the black cloud over my head, had a fairly good Christmas, surrounded by supportive family. Within a few days of returning home, I had an official diagnosis: Stage-three HER2+ breast cancer. Challenging news to start the New Year. The following month was a blur of doctors’ appointments and tests and second opinions. Treatment would be chemotherapy, surgeries, radiation, and a year later, reconstruction
surgeries.

I was the sickest I had ever been and, yet, my body felt fine. Nevertheless, at that point in my life, going through cancer was the scariest and most multi-faceted trial I had experienced.

A Stirring in my Heart

After my first chemo infusion when I was having a better day (meaning I still felt awful but had less brain fog), I decided to read some scriptures about suffering and trials. Looking at a topic concerning my current challenges has always been one of my favorite ways to study the Bible. That brings truth that is immediately applicable and helpful. As I read James 1:2-4 I was blown away. I had read this scripture and shared it with others many times. But in early 2018, it rocked
my world like never before. There was a stirring in my heart.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

I found myself reading these three simple verses over and over again, trying to take them in. I read the text in different versions just to dig in more.

Then I combined what each version said for each action item to go deeper in my understanding of the text. The first line said this:
 Consider it Pure Joy (NIV)
 Count it all joy (AMP)
 Consider it nothing but joy (ESV)
 Consider it a sheer gift (Message)

The writer is calling us to consider, or think about, these trials with an expression of joy.

Our thoughts (my thoughts) might go something like this, “Are you kidding me? Joy and cancer. Those words don’t go in the same sentence. Joy and trials. Joy in a pandemic. Joy in racial tensions. This must have been a misprint in the Bible. This can’t be right.”

Or this, “Now wait a minute, did you see the translation calling trials a gift?  I don’t know about you but when I think of a gift, I am thinking of a gift card to Target, Starbucks or Loft Outlet (and by the way, my birthday is in March). Quite possibly even more exciting is someone offering to clean my house, babysit my child or make me a meal. Those are what I think of as gifts. But trials, a gift? This is some crazy stuff right here.”

What is the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you think about a trial you are going through? 

 
My guess is that it wasn’t JOY, HAPPINESS, or YAY unless you’re being sarcastic. During my cancer journey and pretty much any trial I have gone through, these words naturally came quicker to my mind: FRUSTRATING, SCARY, HATE THIS, AND WHEN WILL I GET A BREAK?

Trials are challenging. They mess up our lives, change our plans and cause suffering. It’s hard to wrap our minds around how joy fits in the midst of the hard times of life.

God See Things Differently

God views things completely different than we do. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

 I am sure God knows trials are difficult (for one thing, he experienced them through Jesus), but God sees the big picture and what they have the potential to produce. He sees what good could happen in our lives and in others’ lives as a result of the challenging times. 

Even though God allows things we don’t like, Psalms 18:30 says, “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.”

Perfect means it’s complete and as good as it is possible to be. There is no room for mistake when something is perfect. There is no mistake when the Bible asks us to rejoice in trials.

This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you what is best for you,
    who directs you in the way you should go. Isaiah 48:17

Ever blame God when you face hard times? God has our best interests at heart. He is not a mean Father up in heaven looking for ways to make us miserable.

These are not the thoughts of God as he looks at you: “Hmmm, Sally seems to be too happy. Let me throw a wrench in her perfect little life to trip her up. Won’t that be so funny.”

I find great comfort knowing that God is interested in my wellbeing. He is leading me to places that are what I need (even if they aren’t what I want). We can kick and scream when trials come our way or we can entrust ourselves to the one who created life itself, and knows us best because he knit us together in our mother’s womb (Psalms 139:13).

 Trials are a blessing that we need because of how they help us grow.

James tells us we can have joy in the midst of hard times because we can choose to persevere to become mature and complete, not lacking anything. Now that I can get joyful about! I want to be mature. I want to lack nothing! Through the years I have always imagined the woman of God I wanted to be. She is at peace, not worried, not anxious, joyful, productive. So yes, I know that’s what I desire but the trials are part of the package deal. There are no shortcuts for this
kind of lasting growth.

The apostle Paul writes about the various trials he and other disciples faced when he writes in 2 Corinthians 6:10: “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

It doesn’t make any sense. This is the paradoxical way of God. In our sorrow, we can rejoice. When we are poor, we can become rich. Possess nothing yet we have everything.

It is important to change the way we view challenges if there is any hope for us to have joy in the midst of them. Not that we have to beg God for hard times but that we see the power in them. In the end, the most crucial matter is our relationship with God and if our trials are drawing us closer to him and making us more like Jesus, then we can be filled with great joy.

God continues to teach me so much about how to view trials and grow through them. This excerpt is from the first chapter of a book I am writing. This task is a trial in and of itself and I’ve been tempted to give up several times. Prayers are appreciated to finish what God has put on my heart and Lord willing I can share my labor of love with you all someday soon.

Author bio 

Bethany was baptized as a teen in 1990 in the Boston Church of Christ. She attended University of Massachusetts at Amherst, helping lead the ministry there her junior year. She graduated with her Bachelor’s in Journalism. After graduation she served on staff leading campus and teen ministries in New England. She spent eight years working in non-profit fundraising.

She married Adam Smith in 2011 and returned to the ministry staff, leading the congregational singles ministry in Dallas for nine years alongside her husband. In 2012, Adam and Bethany served as the editors of Singlehood Redefined, published by Discipleship Publications International. In 2020, they moved to New Orleans, Louisiana to transition into leading the church.