Follow Through

Following through on things, also referred to as perseverance, steadfastness, constancy, and endurance; this is such a stumbling block in my life.  I recognize some good that I need to do, some change I need to make, or simply a need that I would like to help meet and set out to do those things, only to inevitably slam up against something(s) that challenge that resolve.  

Some of the things that challenge my resolve are truly unavoidable, but some just need to be pushed through and born until they pass. 

It is that bearing up under, that patient endurance that I feel like God is working in me to strengthen this year.  

And I will be honest: I do not like it.  

Not one little bit.  

The nature of chronic medical struggles is that each day is so unpredictable.  You can make plans, but truly it isn't until the very last minute that I can say for certainty we can go or do, or whether I can complete a task that I have planned...because somedays are truly just about surviving and keeping everyone afloat as best as I can.  In this struggle, this up and down, the temptation for me is to think that because we have so many hard days, it is unfair to expect myself to stick to a goal or habit that is hard because I am already doing "hard"...does that make any sense?  

This year has been chocked full of problems.  Most of them have been minor when taken in isolation, but the amount of them, the frequency of the frustrations, inconveniences, problems, and trials stacked one on another = this year has been a tsunami of struggle. 

And if I am honest, it is another year that has topped last year, that topped the year before, that topped the year before that...to where I am reaching the point of accepting that this is our lot in life.  It may never get easier, it may always be something else, it may not be just a "season".  In this dawning realization this morning as I read my Bible and worked my way through a list of questions that Kari Denker posted last week, I realized that God is calling me to strengthen my "follow through", my patience, my endurance.  

I was curious what the Bible had to say about the concept of "follow through" so I googled it.  One site that I use frequently is called Open Bible.  It is simply an online topical Bible and so useful when you want to examine a concept or topic through the lens of the Bible.  I also love its warning about how to make sure you keep the verses that it lists in context.  

This morning as I perused the list regarding "follow through" one in particular caught my attention, so I decided to look deeper.  (for that I use the Bible Hub app - I LOVE Bible Hub!) 

Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."

In my experience and journey through the hard, it has been a constant temptation to complain, to lose hope, to feel sorry for myself, and to become so discouraged that bitterness creeps in.  But this verse, this verse points to hope through the encouragement of Scripture and through developing endurance.  I decided to take a deeper look at the word endurance to see what the original word meant - and this is what it said:

HELPS Word-studies - properly, remaining under, endurance; steadfastness, especially as God enables the believer to "remain (endure) under" the challenges He allots in life. 

and Thayer's Greek Lexicon states that the original word means - steadfastness, constancy, endurance - in the N.T. the characteristic of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.

WOW!  This inevitably brought to my mind these verses in 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 5 through 8:

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance (also translated patient endurance or steadfastness); and to perseverance (patient endurance or steadfastness), godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

And that is what I prayed for this morning before I even opened my Bible.  To truly know Jesus as I read through the Gospels.  God is so, so good.  He hears our prayers and is working in the unlikeliest of ways to shape us into who He has called us to be.  

May I stay the course He has called me to. 💖