Perseverance

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You ever felt like everything is getting too hectic?  Too many irons burning in the fire, and you’re beginning to feel the heat?  Having worked multiple jobs simultaneously since I was 14, and then, pursuing ministry on top of that when I turned 18, some would say I’m a glutton for this type of punishment.  Some days, things are problem free, but other days, I would wholeheartedly agree with that assessment.  Still, in the midst of life’s randomness and unique moments of crazy, I’ve always felt a call on my life and a purpose, not always known to me in specificity at any given moment, but always in a general sense.  As a boy, I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and ever since then, I’ve felt that.  At this time, I am currently in school online, in addition to working full time with a funeral home and pastoring a church.  I try to prioritize as much time as I can to my wife and children, but it is difficult, a feeling I know many others know all too well.  Still, even as tides seemingly rise in my life, I know that I can stay afloat.

Do you know how I know this?  It is because I try to keep my mind set on the purpose for which I am here.  Too often, we think that events are random, inconsequential, and meaningless in the day-to-day, and maybe by thinking of them this way, it helps us live easier at least in our own minds.  Maybe we are just here, as many believe, to simply exist: to eat, breathe, sleep, consume, and die.  I’m sorry, but I just don’t see things that way.  I was able to visit with a little lady yesterday in the hospital who I had never met prior to then.  She lives in my small town, and she has been here for decades.  Now, I’ve walked through hospitals many, many times, and never talked to the people in the rooms, but this little lady had so many stories.  She had been all over the world and seen things I never have or possible will see.  It was no accident our paths crossed.  It was providence.  Even though I had (and have) many, many things to still do this week, things that could have been attempted in the time spent with her last night.  I know that my time was not wasted and the opportunity to meet her, talk with her, laugh with her, and pray with her was a gift.  That time was a blessing, even in the demands I face.  In my experience, the Lord never gives us more than we can handle.  It might get close, but we can do it.  Even then, we must ENJOY LIFE and all the surprises it brings.

I share with you the goal today of PERSEVERANCE.  I don’t know what you are going through.  I couldn’t know everything everyone is going through, but God does.  Jesus walks with us in the midst of our troubles, and at times, shoulders our burdens when we cannot.  You have much going on?  Rely on His strength. not your own.  Don’t stand in your own abilities; trust the words and energy He can give you to do well in the ministry He has given you in the mission field He has placed you.  If we will ask in His name the desires He places within us, we will be granted what we ask.  Opportunities to change lives, be that single or multiple, will be handed to us, and we will have the ability to excel in His work.