Consider it pure joy

I lost my wallet last week. There was this tragic moment where I was waiting for the bus after a long day of class, I reached for my wallet to get my bus pass, and it wasn't there. My heart sank and my mind started going a mile a minute. When did I lose it? What if someone has it? What if someone used all my credit cards and took all the money out of my accounts? On the outside I was calm, but inside I was panicking a little bit.

I figured out I must have left it on the bus that morning. My wallet has everything in it. My school ID, my driver's license, my credit cards, my bus pass, various store cards and gift cards, and my museum pass. It was so frustrating to lose all that! I called the bus company, but no one had turned in a missing wallet that day. I had to call and cancel my credit card and bank card (and everyone knows how fun it can be to try to get through all the automated messages to talk to a real person).

As I was going through all this, I was also praying that someone would find my wallet and turn it in. I really didn't want to have to go to the trouble of getting a new driver's license, school ID, and bus pass, which would have cost a lot of money. I was stressed out just thinking about all of the stuff I'd have to replace. Then verses from James came to my mind:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
James 1:2-4

Now, my first thought was, this trial doesn't apply. As annoying as it is to lose something, it's not that big a deal. Besides, how is losing my wallet going to help me develop perseverance? What could this possibly teach me?

But the thing I realized is that we can learn something even from small trials. In my case, there was nothing I could do to get my stuff back. Why let it ruin my day? Why worry about it constantly and let it stress me out? That was the old me. The new me put it in God's hands. I did my part and canceled my credit cards. If I was going to get the rest of my stuff back, it was up to God. And I decided that even if I didn't get it back, it would be okay. Maybe I could learn something about responsibility. Maybe I could learn more about the transient nature of money and remind myself not to depend on it (I didn't lose cash, but I lost gift cards with money on them, which is almost the same thing).

Suddenly, as I was thinking of all the things God might teach me, I was actually excited! I still wanted my wallet back, but I realized there's more to life than what's going on at the surface. God could be using this moment right now to mold me and change me a little bit. Maybe that's more important than this minor crisis I'm going through. I stopped worrying and I started trusting God. He has the whole world in the palm of his hand. With either outcome, he's still in control! And if I can't trust him with the small things, how will I ever trust him with something bigger?

Anyway, I did get my wallet back and when I did, I was ecstatic! I was so thankful and excited. It made me think that sometimes we need to lose something to realize how much we have. Sometimes we need to experience a low so we can appreciate the highs. Sometimes we need to go through a small trial so that we can see God's hand at work in our lives. Sometimes we're blessed when we take something difficult and consider it pure joy.