Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Keep Persevering

My family and I used to love hiking on the trails of all the Hawaiian islands. We would plan usually a 3 to 5-day hike with backpacks, tents, food, etc. that we had to carry on our backs. Oftentimes the trails were very difficult to hike, either climbing up a mountain, or going down along gravelly paths that caused us to slip and slide and our toes to mash into the end of our shoes. When our son was small, especially on the first day of the hike, he would complain that he didn't want to hike anymore. He wanted to stop and quit because he was hot and tired. We would have to explain to him that we had to continue to hike on to get to the end of the trail where people were waiting on us to take us home at the end of the trail. The second day he would be recuperated from a good night's rest and raring to go leading the pack while we adults were aching from sore muscles and barely able to walk from the first long day's hike. I think we all learned as a family the meaning of the word perseverance!

This familiar saying is true: "Life is a marathon, not a sprint." Life requires perseverance, even when times get particularly tough. Our Savior finished what He began and so must we. Sometimes God answers prayer with silence, and when He does, we must patiently persevere. We can't stop in the middle of the road and say I'm not moving, unless we know very specifically that God has told us to. God expects us to keep on keeping on. In times of trouble, we need to seek God through prayer and listen to His small voice. He promises to direct our paths and light our way. We must trust Him and lean on His strength as we carry on. Whatever our problems, God can handle them. Our job is to keep persevering until the answer to the problem comes. We need to be a finisher of the race, an overcomer. We need to fight the good fight until the race is won. When we persevere until the end, we will receive the promises of God, our crowns, our home in heaven for eternity. Whatever you're facing today, realize that God is bearing the load with you. He is walking along beside you encouraging you to finish the race. You can do it with His help!

Keep persevering!
Sandy

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home