Doing Hard Time

There's an old AMC classic movie in which an aspiring writer and his
family are struggling to make ends meet. The young novelist is
rejected by every publisher. He works odd jobs to hold the family
together. His wife and young daughter adore him but the disappointment
of his failing career begins to take a toll. Eventually he settles for
a compromising situation that takes him away from his family. Suddenly
they have more money than they dreamed but the family is falling
apart. His loving wife confronts him with his poor choices.
His reply is,
"Cant you see that I'm doing all of this for you and the baby so we
won't have to struggle."
Her response is a classic line...
"We we're happier when we struggled!"

Character, bonds of love, memories, and trust in God are born out of
life's struggles. Through the travails of life we learn to rely upon
God and each other. There is no short cut to character, faith, and
dependence on one another and our Heavenly Father.
God knows what is best for us. Reward and blessings come as we
persevere through trials of life.

1 Peter 1:7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more
precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be
found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

It's inherent to every follower of Christ and every family that
desires to serve Him; adversity. It's a teacher and refiner of better
things, precious things, and true joy.
God wants us to learn that He can supply all our needs.

You've heard the expression, "I had to learn that the hard way."
Well, truth is that's how we truly learn.

Don't compromise your faith during the "hard way".
My lessons of unconditional love, grace, and Gods sufficiency have
been learned through immense pain and even sorrow.

You may not say now, "We were happier when we struggled", but as you
 press on you will say one day,

"We are happier and blessed because we have struggled."

iPhone

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Keith Brake

Image
Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. And the place was shaken...WOW We all need these moments of transfiguration. Times when God makes an appearance leaving no doubt that you are where you're supposed to be doing exactly what is pleasing to Him. God moments...! They happen every day. All day. In big and small ways. The small moments may bring a smile. The huge bring tears. We can fathom only handfuls of the mountainous otherwise we look only for big and miss the multitude of God moments happening all around us. One of those gigantic events happened Sunday. Over 50 of us were jammed into the small hospice room of our beloved LIFE group teacher of 25 years. Cancer had left him unable to communicate. Final days of life's struggle are approaching. Lynn's request for Keith was to have his class meet by his bed, on Easter Sunday, a...
Read more

Go For It

Image
One of the most heart rendering experiences I've ever had occurred on a mission trip to the south pacific. My niece came with me along with a dozen other workers. We arrived at the airport in Manila Philippines for our return flight to America. My niece reached for her passport...and it wasn't there. One thing for certain, you're not getting on an international flight without a passport. It was lost on the bumpy ride to the city. She had everything, but not quite! Everything.. but the most important item... which gave her right of passage. At that point, nothing else mattered. I recall her weeping on my shoulder, "Uncle John, there going to keep me here forever". How God bailed us out of that jam was amazing and a great devotion for another time. What I'm reminded of from this is the story of the rich young man that came to Jesus in Matthew 19. He had everything and had kept all the law. He would have been like the Bruce Wayne of Palestine. He had money, ...
Read more

History or His Story

Image
Sitting with an old friend, catching up with lost years, I asked if he had heard from past aquaintances. His response was, "Thats in the past. I don't live in the past. I'm looking forward." I knew exactly what he meant, and so did the Apostle Paul. Philippians 3: 13-14 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus Someone said, "Dont look back, unless you plan to go that way." I appreciated my friends comment. Mistakes, failure, and regret had been pestering me all week. Presently God was doing many remarkable things all around me but an unhealthy consciousness of past history was preventing me from enjoying the present. I needed a little reminder about straining toward what was ahead. To err is human. To forgive is divine. Th...
Read more