Reverse Engineering

In my life, joy has been one of those qualities that has always been short-lived.  It seems to always be squeezed out by an overwhelming sense of discontent.  My belief that things should be better, or different, or more like I want them has placed an overwhelming obstacle to the growth of long-lived joy and contentment.  This week I decided to reverse engineer a familiar passage of scripture, and it has helped bring me some needed perspective.  

Rom 5:3-5 - 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. NIV

As I reverse engineered this portion of scripture I have begun to understand that the road to a lasting hope, one that produces genuine joy and one that "does not disappoint," is not an easy road to travel.  This road is not a smooth path.  It is not a paved road.  It is a rocky and winding road; full of twists, turns, peaks, and valleys.  It is loaded with potholes, and pitfalls.  The road to this kind of hope and joy is found through the difficult journey of character development.  This type of character development does not come from a book or a sermon, it comes through perseverance; perseverance born of suffering.  

I am discovering that the road to genuine joy is not the nice road I have been looking for.  It is found as I travel down the difficult paths of my life.  As I face my problems, and allow God to shape my heart into whatever would be his desire.