"We're very fickle in our faith, aren't we? We are inconsistent, ambivalent.
We sing "My faith looks up to Thee". . . until the medicine stops working, until the lights go out, until the bill comes due and we don't have what it takes to pay it. Until our grades slip or our career takes a turn or we lose a mate. . . .
How do we learn consistent faith?
We learn it one day at a time. We learn it through endurance.
James writes: "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance" (James 1:2-3).
We sing "My faith looks up to Thee". . . until the medicine stops working, until the lights go out, until the bill comes due and we don't have what it takes to pay it. Until our grades slip or our career takes a turn or we lose a mate. . . .
How do we learn consistent faith?
We learn it one day at a time. We learn it through endurance.
James writes: "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance" (James 1:2-3).
He's not talking about a will-o-the-wisp faith that starts out on the 100-meter sprint and, quicker than you can think, is over. Anybody can handle that kind of faith. Anybody can take ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes of a test.
But ten days or fifteen days, or a year, or two or three? Well, that's another matter. That's the enduring faith James is talking about."
But ten days or fifteen days, or a year, or two or three? Well, that's another matter. That's the enduring faith James is talking about."
Some of us have, are, and will be in a race that we think is just never ending...that the light at the end of the tunnel is no where in sight. That we just can't imagine how we can keep going on any longer. But let me tell you from experience that He is so faithful, so faithful.
That in the moments when we feel like giving up, the times when we feel so lonely, so unsure of what is to come, when the finish seems so far from grasp, that those are the times when we are scooped up into His arms and carried. It is a time of rest for us.
He knows that this road is hard, that there are times we want to throw in the towel and be done, when enough is enough, but when we are at the end of our rope we are only at the beginning of his never ending support.
I can't even begin to tell you how much my relationship with Him has changed over the last year. I am sitting here crying as I type, not because I am sad, but because I truly can't put into words how awesome He is. What a difference He truly makes.
My race of endurance started over a year ago and my finish line is still far off in the distance, but I am where I am today because of Him. Because of His love, faithfulness and mercy. He has truly become my everything....I am nothing without Him. I don't have the cure for my son, I don't have the money to pay for treatment, I can't make people understand our new life and the decisions we make to keep him safe, but I can say that I know someone who can and who has. He has the cure, he provides our income, He speaks to so many who have reached out and helped us, He sits and chats with me when I feel so lonely and sad. I look back over this last year in true amazement. He has taken care of every little detail, there hasn't been a time when He has let me down. My God shall supply all my needs.
I write all this to say, we all have our races that build endurance in our lives...no ones is bigger then another, the fact of the matter, they are races that we are not capable of doing alone. I challenge you, if you are in a race now or will be, to look to Him.
He isn't a mean God, He isn't out to punish or cause pain. He is our life line to get through the challenges that are put before us on this earth. Let Him carry your burden, let Him show you His love and goodness. Trust as if your life depends on it, because believe me it does. He wont let you down!
You have to remember though He sees the big picture when we only see a fraction of it. His timing and ways are always best. So keep an alert eye out for how He is going to get you through the race that will forever change your life. All He asks it that we trust in Him, that we take one day at a time, and that we look with anticipation for the good that He brings.