Perseverance

While many people enter the Thanksgiving and Advent seasons with enthusiasm, others among us struggle to find the joy. My friend, Elisabeth Klein, has written a beautiful devotional to reach the hearts of those who need the Lord’s healing touch.

Please enjoy the following excerpt from Elisabeth’s Holidays for the Hurting: 25 Devotionals to Help You Heal…

Most of my heart-shaping, life-defining trials were not quick. They have lasted for a season. Sometimes they have lasted for years, decades even.

Sometimes, life feels like walking a very long way in the same direction without knowing how long you’ll be walking or quite where you’re headed.

That takes faith. And it takes perseverance.

Again, I think of Mary. She was mothering the Savior but she did not know to what end. She poured her heart and life out, I imagine, as mothers tend to do. And she couldn’t see how her story and her Son’s story were going to play out.

Are you walking in a story that you cannot see the end of?

Is it driving you a bit mad?

I am. There are currently two areas of my life that are confounding me. One is my work. I have put my hand to the plow, I am not looking back, and I am giving everything I’ve got to this desire to help hurting women by bringing them hope, in every way I can think of.  And yet, I have no idea if this will take off, so to speak. If I will be able to support myself. And it’s scary to me.

And then there’s my singlehood.  I had just gotten used to being single again when a new relationship formed and then ended and then I found myself back, not at square one, but back to having to sit with my reality that I in fact may be alone for the rest of my life, humanly speaking, partner-wise.

And yet, I must keep walking.  I must keep showing up at my laptop every morning and keep doing my work. And I must keep getting out of bed and showing up at my life every morning and keep, well, living it. All without knowing the outcomes.  I must persevere.

And so must you.  Like Mary, we do not know how things are going to turn out.  But like Mary, we are called to be faithful, we are called to obedience. We are called to keep walking and moving forward.  Even in our pain. Even in our uncertainty.  Even when we want to give up.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (
James 1:2-4).

God, I want to quit. My life. My job. My marriage. My parenting. This trial. All of it. I’m done. I don’t have it in me to move through this day. (Deep breath.) But I won’t. I will keep walking. But I desperately need your help.

Jesus, please give me your strength to get through this one day in front of me. Amen.

Elisabeth Klein is grateful new wife to Richard, and mom and now stepmom to five. She writes regularly at her blog and desires to help hurting women by bringing them hope.

You may order your copy of Holidays for the Hurting: 25 Devotions to Help You Heal here.