Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. (Colossians 1:11)
I love the times when I have felt a sense of power and victory. I love to walk with confident joy; I love the victory laps. Thankfully I have had more than my fair share of those in my life. The Lord has helped me walk through a lot of my brain tumor journey with that kind of confidence and joy; this journey has been in many ways among the most blessed times of my life. But for all the wonderful things about those seasons of victorious living, I have come to realize one area of my life that didn’t get exercised sufficiently in those times.
When every day feels like a victory lap, it is hard to understand the significance of endurance and perseverance. I am experiencing this need now like never before. I look forward to more victory laps in the future. I enjoy those a lot, but for now, I am learning that this season of endurance is teaching me a lot about my Lord that the victory laps didn’t teach me as clearly. So I am learning to be thankful for this time when I must endure. He is faithful to give what is needed so that I am able to continue.
I’ve been doing a new workout recently trying to get healthier. This exercise routine has a lot of days where the goal is simply to carry a heavy weight for a long time. Let me assure you … there is a world of difference between picking up a heavy weight and setting it down quickly and carrying that weight for a mile. The strength that comes from carrying a heavy burden for a long time is a different sort of strength than the one that can simply lift a heavy burden briefly. The strength that comes through endurance is tougher, more complete and accompanied by a strengthening of character as well as body.
I am finding that this is also true of this season of endurance. It is exercising parts of my faith that weren’t exercised in the sprints in the past. It is strengthening parts of my character that weren’t touched by shorter term trials. So I am learning to be thankful for this season of perseverance.
My encouragement for you today, if you find yourself in such a season, is to not give up. No matter how long it seems to have been since you had a “victory lap”, don’t give up. I encourage you to watch carefully for how the Lord shows up in your season of endurance. How will He provide the resources needed to remain true each day? He is faithful to do that, we simply need to stay put. We simply need to endure. We simply need to remain. Thankfully, through our faith in Jesus, He will give us the strength to do so!
– Deryk Pritchard, Preacher