Faithful Endurance

There are so many ways this year that

the enemy has threatened to break us.

Absolutely shatter us.

Into an infinite amount of pieces.

Pitting us against one another.

Testing our limits to the ultimate extreme.

Stretching us beyond imagination.

Filling us with complaint and anger.

With every breath we take.

Tricking us into questioning every single

part of our lives against the One Who

created us from mere dust.

But have you taken a moment to think just

how God has used this year to make us?

Have you taken a moment to simply

thank Him for the goodness He has

bestowed upon us, even in our darkest hours?

Have you taken a moment to reflect upon

just how He has used this year to...

...make us stronger...

...make us more resilient...

...make us more divinely dependent...

...make us more faithful in Him...

...than ever before?

As the enemy has worked overtime

to build seemingly indestructible barriers,

how often have you let Him in?

Who have you found yourself

spening more time with this year?

No doubt, the enemy has absolutely

threatened to break us.

But God?

Never for once has

He stopped trying to make us.

To recreate us.

To remold us.

To re-fabricate us.

Even more whole.

Even more put back together.

Even more dependent upon Him.

Than ever before.

Undoubtedly, it has been a year.

A year of faithful endurance.

A year of lining up at

each day's starting blocks

and lacing up with God’s word.

Each and every day.

With faithful resilience.

With faithful patience.

With faithful graciousness.

With faithful dependence.

And no doubt, we have failed,

so many more days than not.

To show up armed in His word,

with hopeful anticipation.

Instead, we find ourselves meeting each

new day with irritation, lack of gratitude

and without dependence upon Him.

Yet, He never fails.

To meet us in our mess.

With the greatest,

most undeserving

gift of all.

Every. single. time.

His grace.

By way of a baby.

In a hay-filled manger.

In a wooden stable.

Under an unmistakable Star.

What a year it has been.

A year we never saw coming.

A year God always knew would arrive.

A year to discover what we are

spending our time, truly chasing....

...a baby, full of hopeful promise,

fresh in the lowly manger,

under the glow of the North Star...

...or the shiny, illusive distractions

of the enemy’s incessant prowl...

The year is not over.

May we find the strength in our hearts,

even amidst those moments when our lips

are far too weary, to call out to Him;

and to humbly ask Him to grant

us the faithful endurance we need.

To finish strong.

To realign with Him.

And to witness, once more,

the birth of the Greatest Gift we

have undeserving-ly, ever received.

The grace-filled, faithful endurance,

to stay in-stride with Him, for now, and

forever more to come.

"And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." {Hebrews 12:1}