I love the way God works through his word.  I have been studying the book of James and in fact, writing my research paper on faith as discussed in James.  So of course, I am fairly immersed in this topic currently. But apparently not enough, because the message today at church included the very passage that I have been working on for the past few days - James 1:2-4.  Don't you just love it when God does that?
     These verses essentially tell us that trials happen in our life for the purpose of testing our faith.  As our faith is tested, we develop perseverance, which leads to the ultimate goal of spiritual maturity.  Each difficulty that we face is, in fact helping us to grow in our walk with God.  James even makes the radical statement that we should be joyful as we recognize this fact.  God blesses us in our trials.  If we continue to turn to him for comfort, wisdom and strength during the hard circumstances of life, our faith and our understanding of God will increase.  God's desire is for a progression of our faith over time and he knows exactly what each of us needs for this growth.