Endurance: Going Deeper, Climbing Higher

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” (James 1:2–4, NLT)

Seriously?! Joy? Sometimes I have a hard time getting past that first line. As I peruse my journals, it seems that each time I face a new trial, I write, “This is the most difficult one yet”. Funny how our present trouble feels worse than anything we’ve felt before. If the above verses are true, then it would follow that each subsequent struggle would be more difficult than the one before. I’ve been in a rigorous training program that began at the age of 5.

I was 4 years old when I trusted in Jesus’ death and resurrection to pay for the penalty of my sins. It was only a year later that the abuse began. I endured verbal, emotional, sexual, physical, and spiritual abuse for many years. All through those years, though I went through some serious questioning, I never left my Jesus and he never left me. On the outside I appeared to be rebellious and wicked as I pushed against the status quo, yet nearly every day I read my Bible and talked with Jesus. My faith was being tested and it was growing.

It seems one of the ways Jesus has been working endurance in my life is through financial trials. My first recollection of financial stress is from my Bible College years. I was paying my own way through school and it turned out to be much more expensive than I had budgeted. Time and again I watched as God provided for my needs.

From our first pastoral ministry to the present one we have many stories of God’s miraculous provision for us when we were up against a wall with no apparent way around it. Each provision is a deposit into the bank of God’s faithfulness. When we face financial stresses now we can take a look at the account and easily see that God is still ‘in the black’. His faithfulness never runs out.

Kids seem to be another area of testing. Our kids have all given their hearts to Jesus. They are amazing kids who honour and respect us. As one by one they flew from the nest they each in turn made choices that have brought both blessings and consequences, some long term, some short lived. It is difficult watching your kids make tough choices. Their priorities are different than ours. God has clearly told my husband and me, “I have your kids. Your job is to just keep walking and love them. I will do the rest.”

We have faced betrayal and unrealistic expectations. We have been falsely accused of sin.

Sometimes God allowed us to face our accusers alone. Were we willing to go to the wall for what we believed? Could we stand our ground in the face of opposition? The path of least resistance would have been easier. It is almost impossible to be ‘happy about it’ or patient in the midst of the trial.

“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12, NLT)

In 2014 we had 3 people close to us die in an eight-month stretch. This was a time of ‘white-knuckling it’ just to put one foot in front of the other.

I talk about the stresses of relocation in a previous blog. See ‘Transition’.

Every trial seems to prepare us for the next one to come. I believe that is why James says, “…when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow…”. I could never have survived the trials of the last 7 years had I not been in a rigorous conditioning program throughout my life.

If I had not needed God, I would never have experienced his amazing provision. If my faith had not been tested, I would not know that he is faithful and that he is near, that he will NEVER leave me no matter what is happening. Bad things happen on this side of heaven, but my Saviour is always with me. He never promised I would experience a life of ease if I obeyed him. In fact, he promises the opposite. If we are his disciples, we will experience trials of many kinds.

I am in a much more intimate relationship with Jesus than I ever would have been had I not walked through the valley of testing with him. Endurance does not just happen. It is not necessarily developed with every trial we go through. It is what we do with our trials that determines whether endurance will be the result.

Looking for and seeing God at work in the midst of difficult circumstances is what gives us joy. As we see him at work, we can trust him. That’s when endurance begins to develop. We see him at work in a small trial and trust him with small stuff. We see him at work in more challenging trials and our trust grows even stronger.

 “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13, NLT)

 “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.” (Revelation 21:5–7, NLT)

There are days I feel like I am on top of this joy thing. I can walk with my hands raised in gratitude, awe, and wonder of God who is walking with me. There are days I ‘white-knuckle my walker’ and can barely put one foot in front of the other. And, some days I just lie down and say to Jesus, “I can’t even.” But little by little he is building endurance in me.

What are you ready for? Are you in the midst of a trial? Ask Jesus to show you where he is in all of it. Rejoice that the Lord is not allowing you to remain static but that he is creating opportunities for your faith to grow. This is so counter-intuitive but that is where growth begins.

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on…to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:12–14, NLT)

Welcome to the fellowship of the suffering.