...........................................................................................................................................................
Katherine
Wolf
“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and
challenges come at you from all sides.”
James 1:2 (MSG)
No
matter what chaos the day holds, my family can count on one constant: our
bedtime routine.
To
clarify, I don’t mean precious hours of bonding over bath time, book reading,
teeth brushing and storytelling.
We
have two young boys, so hygiene and calm often go by the wayside, and at the
end of most full days, we can barely manage wrestling them into their pajamas
and tossing them in bed.
Yet,
over the years, we have wired their brains and ours to expect every night to
end with us praying together as a family, one by one.
Though our boys have experienced challenges and been
exposed to hard stories, they often revert to the prayer that lies just below
the surface of most every human heart: “Dear God, thank You for giving me a
GOOD day today. Please help me to have a GOOD day tomorrow.”
If the “good/good” prayer happens to be recited on a
given night, we usually then pray over them: “And God, no matter what kind
of day today was, or what kind of day tomorrow might be, give us courage to
keep showing up, because we know You are with us, God, and You always give us
everything we need.”
For good measure, we may throw in this final charge as
they drift off: “James and John, God made you to do the HARD things in the
GOOD story He is writing for your lives.”
Honestly,
we’re giving that charge to our own hearts, too.
The Bible writer James says, “Consider it a sheer
gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know
that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true
colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so
you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way” (James 1:2-4).
How
could we view our suffering, our unmet expectations, our losses as a gift?
Most
anyone who has lived a little bit of life knows that storms come with the
territory. It’s an unavoidable reality in this world.
So,
if we cannot change it or even pray it away, what can we do?
Well,
for a start, we can redefine how we view goodness.
As James teaches, we will be incomplete and immature
if we don’t go through challenges. And that truth doesn’t have to make us
afraid.
So much of our mental energy is spent fearing what
might happen in the future or staying stuck in shame and regret for what has
happened in the past.
What if we chose to view our inevitable hardships as
the path to experience the goodness of God even more powerfully? As the avenue
to our healing? As the truly abundant life?
The good and the hard things in life aren’t mutually
exclusive.
We hold them in bittersweet tension together because
the good/hard life offers a depth to our experience with God and our compassion
with others that we can’t get any other way.
This redefining leads to our refining. It won’t happen
overnight.
And it won’t happen unless we open our hands,
releasing control over what we thought our life should be in order to receive
God more fully.
In this process, we can find gratitude and even joy
because we know a new kind of perseverance, character and hope will be ours.
Dear God, give us courage to fully live the good/hard
life with joy. We pray to be found faithful in the midst of whatever hurts You
allow in our lives.
May our most longed-for healing be the healing of our
souls. Fill us so fully with Your Spirit and Your hope that it overflows from
us into the world.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
TRUTH
FOR TODAY
Romans 5:3b-5a, “… we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not
put us to shame …” (NIV)
2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are hard pressed on every
side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (NIV)
RELATED
RESOURCES
Is
it possible to embrace suffering as a privilege rather than a punishment? Katherine
and Jay Wolf’s latest book, SUFFER STRONG: How to Survive Anything by
Redefining Everything, offers universal lessons on thriving in lives we never
imagined living. Vulnerable, practical and surprisingly funny, join Katherine
and her husband, Jay, as they disrupt the myth that joy can only be found in a
pain-free life.
CONNECT
Be
encouraged as Katherine seeks to “redeem the internet” on her beloved Instagram
profile (@hopeheals), or even better: Come get a hug in person at a live
speaking event!
SUFFERING
ISN'T THE END OF YOUR STORY. IT'S THE BEGINNING OF A NEW STORY.
Katherine & Jay Wolf are
communicators and advocates. After meeting in college, they married and moved
to Los Angeles to pursue careers in law and the entertainment industry. Their
son James was born in 2007, and six months later Katherine’s life nearly ended
with a catastrophic stroke. Miraculously, she survived and continues her
recovery to this day, including having a miracle baby, John, in 2015. Katherine
and Jay have shared their journey of steadfast hope through their first book, Hope Heals, and at
speaking events both live and online before millions. Together, they founded Hope Heals Camp, a community for
families with disabilities like them. Katherine, Jay, and their two sons now
live in the Atlanta area. Follow their journey on Instagram @hopeheals.
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