A German violin maker was asked the secret of his craft. "I go to the high mountains to cut the wood for my violins," he replied. "I look for a tree that has had to grow out of solid rock, a tree that has withstood the harsh winds of decades. I want a tree that has been bent but not broken, for its wood is the hardest. An instrument crafted from that kind of wood plays the sweetest music."
God uses us after we have been tested through the difficulties of life. Perseverance cannot be learned through ease and comfort but through struggle, pain, and sorrow.
Perhaps you have been through that and your heart has been broken. James did not say that such painful times can be joyful. He said that you should "consider it pure joy" because he knew that trials produce results that enable you to provide life-giving ministry to others. Christians who have endured trials become instruments for the Savior that produce the sweetest kind of music.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance" James 1:2
Rev. Patricia E. Walker, AlphaChurch.org