Endurance

If you look up the word ENDURANCE in the dictionary you would get something similar to the following....

ENDURANCE 1: permanence, duration the endurance of the play's importance 2: the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially: the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity (a marathon runner's endurance) 3: the act or an instance of enduring or suffering (endurance of many hardships)

Recently, along with a few other dedicated women from our church and community, I have taken on a new workout regimen. We come together twice a week for what is called BOOT CAMP. We exercise every muscle in our body, for the goal of getting in shape or becoming healthy. We are often challenged in physical endurance, and often talk about "embracing the burn" or "pushing through the pain". However, we do NOT stop just because we are winded, exhausted or feel a cramp coming on. We keep on going, knowing that somehow, at the end of the BOOT CAMP we will be healthier women. It is worth the prize!

Our spiritual lives are not much different. When hardships and/or conflict occur, and they will, we must have the endurance to keep on going. When the outcome just doesn't seem worth the effort, and when God seems silent, we must push beyond the pain and look towards the goal. WE HOLD ON! WE ENDURE! WE TRUST!

In the story of Nehemiah we see several examples of how Nehemiah used "endurance" to keep pressing forward. Nehemiah 6:2-3 reads, "Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono. But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?"

Nehemiah was a man who lived in tough times, discouraging times, and yet he was a man of faith and endurance during the worst of those.

Today, we are facing hard times, with many of the same challenges Nehemiah faced. We will soon learn that through these hard times that GOD IS ALWAYS THERE, even when we can't see or hear HIM.

Therefore, "Embrace the burn!" and "Push through the Pain!" It Is Worth It!!!

By Mandy, Children's Ministry