![]() ![]() I understood what Jesus meant when he said that man cannot live on bread alone but by every word that comes out from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). ![]() However, my new, devastating reality had also awakened my heart to my need of a Savior, Jesus.Īt 21 years old, I knew what it was like to see my body literally waste away and yet, at the very same time, to feel my inner self-my mind, soul, and spirit-be renewed day by day. I had been recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that caused me to lose almost all of the hair on my head. ![]() I’ll never forget reading those verses for the first time. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Keep going, dear friends, Jesus is with us providing the hope we need to be the opposite of all of these hard things. This is our hope, right here, that no matter how difficult the road and how hard pressed we feel, we are never alone. Who among us has not been perplexed by life?īut the flip side of each of these incredibly tough words is an opposite, brought to us through the hope of Jesus. Who hasn’t felt hard pressed on every side? When Jesus said the world would bring us troubles, He wasn’t kidding. This verse, both shocking in its imagery, which I personally love, is also an incredible portrait of what actually happens in life, without pulling any punches. Oh man, I love the Bible so much for both it’s poetic wording and it’s complete lack of sugar-coating, well, anything. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed perplexed but not in despair persecuted, but not abandoned struck down, but not destroyed. James 1:2-4 We are hard pressed but never alone So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. Isaiah 40:28-31ĭear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. They will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 2 Corinthians 12:9ĭo you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. Philippians 4:13īut He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. Check out the ones your friends at Grit and Grace Life love to revisit when times get tough. When life seems to be weighing on us just a little bit too much and we need a push to make it to the other side of whatever it may be, the Bible offers an ample number of verses for encouragement. As adults, perseverance takes on an entirely new meaning, and an entirely new concept of what it means to be strong in adversity. We imagined staying strong and pushing through difficult homework or a race during physical education class. When we’re small, the sound of the word-not to mention the length of it, a whopping 12 letters-resounded in our minds. Perseverance is one of those terms we learned in elementary school when it came time for the lesson about character traits.
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