I have fought a good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7 KJV
Stepping into a new year is for me like stepping out of a fierce hurricane...
my course, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7 KJV
Stepping into a new year is for me like stepping out of a fierce hurricane...
...even as the storm clouds linger, and its harsh winds continue to blow. As I shared in previous journal entries, 2023 was especially difficult. It was a year of strange trials and afflictions that were emotionally brutal. But praise God, I survived. I made it through. And guess what? Some of these trials are still continuing. Entering into another year hasn't changed a thing.
But what has changed is my mindset and my outlook on life. Through all my struggles and times of overall weariness and mental exhaustion, a light has dawned. I realized just how faithful the Lord is to see me through all the storms of life. But moreover, how these painful events are working to mature me and build deep into my soul the character of Christ.
With Jesus, no trial is wasted. And the more brutal the battle, the greater the victory. As the beloved apostle Paul penned in what has become his second letter to the church in what was then the city of Corinth, "We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
Truthfully, even though I have read this passage countless times throughout my more than thirty years as a follower of Christ, it has never become more real and personal to me than now. The Lord is allowing me to see things at a deeper level. And I am seeing as well the need to always rejoice in the Lord no matter what trials, problems and difficulties I may be facing at any given time.
Therefore, it is with good reason that our brother Paul says to "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4). While in his second letter to his spiritual son, Timothy, Paul wrote, "If we suffer (with Jesus), we shall also reign with Him" (2 Timothy 2:12 – Parenthesis mine).
So if needed, let the storms rage. God has a good purpose for everything He allows. And my job is to keep my trust in the Lord, no matter what I'm facing on any given day.
D.B.
But what has changed is my mindset and my outlook on life. Through all my struggles and times of overall weariness and mental exhaustion, a light has dawned. I realized just how faithful the Lord is to see me through all the storms of life. But moreover, how these painful events are working to mature me and build deep into my soul the character of Christ.
With Jesus, no trial is wasted. And the more brutal the battle, the greater the victory. As the beloved apostle Paul penned in what has become his second letter to the church in what was then the city of Corinth, "We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
Truthfully, even though I have read this passage countless times throughout my more than thirty years as a follower of Christ, it has never become more real and personal to me than now. The Lord is allowing me to see things at a deeper level. And I am seeing as well the need to always rejoice in the Lord no matter what trials, problems and difficulties I may be facing at any given time.
Therefore, it is with good reason that our brother Paul says to "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4). While in his second letter to his spiritual son, Timothy, Paul wrote, "If we suffer (with Jesus), we shall also reign with Him" (2 Timothy 2:12 – Parenthesis mine).
So if needed, let the storms rage. God has a good purpose for everything He allows. And my job is to keep my trust in the Lord, no matter what I'm facing on any given day.
D.B.
