“The testing of your faith produces endurance.”
1 Corinthians 1:3 (NAS)
Everywhere I turn around these days this word, endurance, seems to be screaming at me. And in just about every area of my life I would like to scream back at it. My devotional said “God won’t permit more pressure than we can handle” and then I read Paul said “People are watching us as we stay at our post … immersed in tears yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many, having nothing, having it all.” 1 Cor. 6: 1-10. Then I hear a song, “Having faith in the long run is easier said than done; It’s hard to live out in the light of day … Despite all your tendencies, God sees it differently; Your struggle’s a time to grow …”
Throughout several areas in my life right now it seems that victory, or breakthrough, is right around the corner, yet so far away. But isn’t this what endurance is about?
Knowing what our circumstances are, we remain faithful in what we believe, in who we are, and in who God is.
Endurance means “the power to withstand hardship or stress; survival, a state of surviving; remaining alive.” I think right now, the heartbeat of what God is putting in all of us is the ability to endure. Not to wither at a trial, but instead to see it as a chance to grow, an opportunity to shine like you never have before. Sometimes there is not an answer, or human understanding for what we are going through. He is not asking for us to find an answer, but just to endure to the end, consistent in our faith, our attitudes, and our actions.
About two weeks ago, there was a horrible bus accident here in Atlanta. You may have seen it; it was all over the national news. A bus full of college baseball players from a little Christian college in Ohio drove over a bridge, at interstate speed. (The driver thought he was in the HOV lane, but it was an exit.) One of the fathers of the seven people killed said “I do not understand it, but I know God will use it for good. Something good has to come out of this. It just does.” He did not say God caused it, he just said God had to use the struggle he now had to endure.
I know that what I face is nothing in the scope of human pain, and endurance. So how, if I cannot endure for a season, will I be able to share the loving mercies of God to someone who has lost a child, a spouse, a family. Whatever I endure, I know there is a purpose and a plan bigger than I can imagine. Storms in my life may come … no they will come, but as a tree planted firmly in the ground, I pray it will only reveal the depth and resilience of my roots.
Listen carefully to the words of this song. I have heard it a hundred times, and only really heard them the other day:
“I’ll praise You in this storm, And I will lift my hands; For You are who You are No matter where I am. Every tear I’ve cried You hold in Your hand. You never left my side. And though my heart is torn I will praise You in this storm.”
Endurance…Doing it. Bought the t-shirt and worn it out.
Endurance is not just about seeing it to the end. It is about what you do during the endurance. I have a whole little “sermon” that started brewing about a year ago that I call…In the Middle of the Conflict. In short, the answer is endure. But how? I think we all have our own “recipe” for enduring and each of us need to walk it out the way God asks us. Your enduring may not look like mine. The attitude we have while enduring is the key. Some days I do great with enduring and other days I stink at it. On the days I stink…..well, I praise. I praise everyday anyway, but I have to get my shout on when I’m having a bad endurance day.
Praising in music and being thankful are the keys for me. Maybe they are for someone else too. Want to know what my endurance test is? A marathon international adoption of epic proportions. If you want to know read more about my journey come back by 1smartmom on the 15th of this month. Thanks Angel, I think you just helped me sew up my topic for this month.
Here’s to enduring together. Be Encouraged you’re not alone.
When you perserve it brings forth a character change and then leads to a hopefully heart. That is what enduring for me is and continues to be for me. We all go through so much in life and I think that somehow and someway God does prepare us or gives us an instrument to press on. Like this past year, it was praise and worship music and still is for me. I would praise HIM and worship HIM to another level. And, when the tragedy happened my heart was tored but also mended. Sometimes, we just do not know what life will bring our way but I do know that God does provide more than enough to bring us through. I do agree that when you are enduring; you are learning something important that will not only benefit you but someone else. I do believe that we do not go through just to go through but to learn and to be blessing or a helping hand to someone else who at that time may not understand or even can handle the situation. But when you share with that person or individual our experience, I do believe it helps them to press on and to endure themselves and to learn to be an encouragement to someone else. So, yes when we have learned through our time of enduring are hearts are hopeful again and even more prepared and strong to continue on this race that we are on.
Yes and again I say yes! Endurance and steadfastness is the word for right now. How funny, b/c I am currently meditating on this very thing myself. I am also pondering on the fact that everything we do for the Lord will be for a purpose and NOT wasted as the Word says. I think all of us (me included) feel the forces of the wind, but standing our ground is key even when we FEEL like everything around us is shaky. I will stand in faith with you. We will see the victory, we will see the breakthrough, we will see our God show up and show off on our behalf! Love you!
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