As I've aged, my palate for food has changed; so too has my palate changed for the things of the spirit. I have such a taste for the trials and the fire of life, as I have found them to be opportunities for me to be joyful.

James 1:2 says, "Count it all joy when you find yourself in various trials for they will produce patience." (different translations will say endurance or steadfastness).

This verse has been with me since the beginning of this mission trip. The Lord has brought this verse to my mind every single time I find myself in the fire or going through a trial. I find it so beautiful, because it provides an opportunity for me to take my eyes off of what's happening in front of me and put my eyes back on the Lord and the finish line of who and what he said he would do and be.

Later on in James 1, James talks about letting patience have its perfect work so that we may be perfect, needing nothing. It makes me think about how the world views a trial or fire and how it's immediately like, "this is terrible, there's nothing good in this."

On the contrary, with the Lord, it's an amazing time because anytime you are put through that fire or that trial, you will come out looking better than what you did going in.

Romans 5 talks about how trials produce hope, character, and endurance - isn't that just amazing?? It makes me think about a cartoon I would watch called Dragon Ball Z. In this cartoon there are people called sayans and they get in fights all the time. Once they've recovered from those fights they're stronger than what they started off as, and in comparison, so are we in times of trial or fire. I can walk with such an assurance because whenever something's rough, it's because I am being remade.

So, when the fire comes your way, what do you do? Do you look at it through the eyes of the world saying, "this is terrible," or do you look at it through the lens of Truth, saying, "this is the best thing that could ever happen to me."