James 1:2-8; James 1:16-18

2 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.

3 You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.

4 So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

5 If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it.

6 Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves.

7 Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way,

8 adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

16 So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course.

17 Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.

18 He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.