“Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” Those words were written by James, the brother of Jesus. We all face trials at different periods of our lives. Some are light and some are quite consuming. Some we get over quickly and others may seem like a heavy weight we just keep carrying with no relief in sight. James is telling us that the process of going through tough times can actually make us stronger in the end. It reminds me of when I played '"sket'"ll(in(d igh(school:(p he(first(B(d"ys(of(pr"ctice(were( brutal because we ran and ran up and down the court. But the more we ran the stronger we got and soon we were able to run hard for a whole game. The strain produced perseverance. No pain, no gain is not just a slogan. Now when it comes to our relationship with God we grow stronger in faith when we trust God in the small things. We ask Him to help us with our problems. We ask Him for wisdom for a decision we need to make. We ask Him to provide a need that we have. When we "sk( specific"lly( "nd( honestly( trust( d im7( d e( will( "nswer( us( specific"lly("nd(our(f"ith(will('e(strengthened:(s e(will(le"rn( that God really does hear. He really does answer. Now when bigger challenges come along we have a backlog of what God h"s("lre"dy(done(for(us(so(we(pr"y(with(confidence:(s e(le"rn( to pray when we don’t know what the solution is because we know He does. We pray in faith, knowing that He has the answer and he will always do what is best for His children. I think one of our biggest problems as Christians is that we forget how much God loves us. We forget that we are his children, not just unknown names on a long list of followers. He cares about you just as you care about your children. He wants the best for you just as you want the best for your kids. He knows you by name and wants you to get to know him better every day.