I just finished writing the last Bible summary for the Unit Study Treasure Vault. I wrote them all 10 years ago, spending 2-10 hours a day for two years, but I never wrote the summary of James. My children and I decided to memorize the book of James, and then I told God that I wouldn’t write the summary until God had made it real in my life. My sons and I memorized the book back when my daughter was a baby, and I forgot about what I had said to God.
Years later when I was building the Bible section of my membership site, I felt that God wanted me to put in the summaries to give parents a grasp of each book of the Bible before teaching it to their children. They were Charlotte Mason style summaries, where I tried to remember everything I could about the book after having read all the reams of extra material from the Old and New Testament classes.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in my car waiting for my husband and kids, flipping through the Bible. I went to James and started reading it. Suddenly I remembered what I had said to God, because lo and behold, each section had been made real to me, usually through painful circumstances in my life. Not only that, over the years that I’ve been a blogger, I’ve blogged about many issues mentioned in the book of James. As I read the book, tears splashed down my face, and I knew that I was ready to write the last summary. Here are some articles about the book of James, forged through suffering:
- The Secret of Contentment is Suffering (James 1:2-4;12)
- Adversity Builds Endurance (James 1:2-4;12)
- Waiting on God (James 1:2-4;12)
- How to Get Wisdom (James 1:5)
- How to Overcome Temptation (James 1:13-15)
- That’s What God is For (James 1:20)
- Anger and Yielding to God (James 1:20)
- Forgetting What’s in the Mirror (James 1:22-25)
- Is Jesus really Lord of Your Life? (James 2:14-26)
- Guarding my Tongue (James 1:26; 3:1-12)
- Prayer and Provision (James 4:2-3)
- Getting Rid of Pride (James 4:6,10)
- How to Draw Close to God (James 4:8)
- Crying: Strength or Weakness? (James 4:9)
- Hoarding Money (James 2:15-16; 5:5)
- How Confession of Sin Affects Prayer (James 5:16)
Tags: Christian Living, James, suffering
