James 1:2 Chalk this tough time up as joy. Though it is hard, trying, painful, scary, exhausting and heartbreaking. In the midst of the pain of it keep your focus on the purpose of it. Remember that this time of stretching your faith will be used to produce perseverance and endurance in you. It will deepen your faith roots and strengthen your character. It will reinforce your hope. As you see God meeting you in your needs and in your dark places, it will build into you a g

In 2014 I took advantage of an opportunity that truly changed my life, changed the way I saw myself, the way I lived in the big picture and the daily and brought new depth to my beliefs. I accepted an invitation to go on a backpacking trip into the wild Sierras. If someone had invited me to do that before that particular time of my life I would not have considered it to be an opportunity. I would have thought that to be nothing more than a horrible sounding idea. Growing up I