Fortune Cookie Faith

“Your troubles will cease and fortune will smile upon you.”

That’s what my fortune cookie said.

At first, I was excited. I saw myself in a hammock gently swaying in the warm summer breeze between two palm trees on a sandy white beach somewhere overlooking crystal clear water sipping a cold drink from a pineapple. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that this would-be blessing could cause me more harm than good.

My dream bubble burst.

I thought if all of my troubles ceased, how would I mentally and spiritually grow? And if I couldn’t mentally and spiritually grow, how could fortune smile upon me? Hmm.

Pondering this, my mind wandered back to a time when I heard a wise man once say, “If you don’t have a problem (or more loosely interpreted ‘troubles’), you should get down on your knees and ask God what He’s got against you.” Interesting train of thought, wouldn’t you say? (This wise man was on his way to becoming a billionaire, married to his first wife.) He asked if everything came easy to you and me, would we appreciate what we have? Would be strive for more? Would we become bored with life? Would we be the people we are today if we didn’t have trouble in our past? And how would we treat others if we ourselves had no trouble?

They say that God never puts more on us than we can bear. I often feel He overestimates our tolerance level, don’t you? Your ‘troubles’ may be perceived to be greater than mine and mine greater than someone else’s, but through it all, here we are. I am beginning to embrace the idea that God is not as concerned with our comfort level as He is with our spiritual growth. Of course, He is not in the business of beating us down, but rather growing us up. In fact, the Bible goes so far as to say that we should consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds because the testing of our faith develops perseverance and perseverance develops maturity. (James 1:2-4 NIV)

This begs the question then of how much testing does one need to go through to develop the kind of perseverance that will lead to God’s type of maturity? I suppose one way to find out is to look in the mirror. Do you see more of Jesus and less of yourself than you did the day before? It can be a painful process, but an admirable goal and trouble might just be the catalyst that brings you closer to His image and farther from your own. Makes your head spin just thinking about it, doesn’t it?

Oh, by the way, that same wise gentleman who suggested we get down on our knees if we don’t have ‘trouble’ went on to say that when ‘trouble’ does come our way, we should be thankful for it.

Uh huh.

I’ve kept that tiny piece of paper with my fortune written on it. It’s tucked under the corner of the electrical outlet plate on the wall in my bathroom near my mirror. It’s not in my direct line of sight, but my eyes can find it when I need a gentle reminder that the testing I am going through is developing my perseverance and that perseverance is developing God-like maturity in me.

And about that part of scripture that talks about “considering it pure joy when ‘troubles’ do come,” well…I’m still working on that!