When  troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

James 1:2-4 NLT

I’ve had migraines for as long as I can remember. My mom and I have a running joke that “it’s not really a migraine until your brain’s having a baby!” But that is more or less what it feels like… As if my brain, for no apparent reason, has suddenly taken it upon itself to give birth from inside my skull. I’m sure some of you beautiful, courageous ladies know EXACTLY what I’m talking about! I remember one time when my mom was talking me through one of my episodes over the phone and said something I’ll never forget: “Lean INTO it, Hannah. Don’t pull away. Embrace it, it has a limit!” Lo and behold… she was right. Though I didn’t think it possible… My fear had actually been amplifying my suffering. But when I finally embraced the pain simply for what it was, as a finite, passing moment… it began to lose its power over me.

I think maybe joy does something similar for us in the spiritual realm. When everything inside of us screams to pull away from our pain… Joy leans INTO it! Like waves crashing on a beach, we can allow ourselves to be suffocated and swallowed by our suffering… Or we can stand up on our surfboard of joy, harness the power of the waves, and ride them like God is calling us to. When we do decide to make that switch from pain into praise, God has promised that His supernatural joy will flood our being like a tidal wave crashing through the gates of our suffering into the Holy of Holies. Our waves of pain are inevitable on this side of heaven… but our sacrifice of praise is a choice.

Hannah