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Anger, Endurance for the Journey, Featured

The Problem with Anger

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June 16, 2022

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Go ahead and be angry.
You do well to be angry –
but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge.
And don’t stay angry.
Don’t go to bed angry.
Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
EPHESIANS 4:26-27 (THE MESSAGE)


Feeling anger is not a sin but how we react to that feeling is where we can open ourselves up to sin. The above Scripture describes two ways we can sin in response to feeling anger. We can be an oppressor by allowing rage to control us and control others or we can be a suppressor of our anger and allow a bitter root of resentment to grow poisoning our relationship. Dave and I have both responses covered – we are both guilty.


Dave was an oppressor and his anger exploded during his cancer journey. Whenever he would feel anger because of fear, hurt or frustration, he would often explode with uncontrollable rage. He was never physically abusive but he was definitely verbally abusive with his words and tone which would send me inside myself and I would shut down. But I knew he was unable to express his pain by crying (he was taught that boys don’t cry) and I felt sorry for him.


But I was hurt by his words and by stuffing and suppressing that pain/anger I was feeling, a bitter root of resentment developed in my heart towards Dave. And to top it off I built walls around that bitter root so that it continued to grow – it slowly poisoned me from the inside out.


Fortunately for Dave, several years after Dave’s amputation he went for a year of anger counseling when he became aware that his rage was sin and I can honestly testify that Dave has not had a rageful fit for 25 years. But I was not made aware of my suppressed anger until I started walking through my anger issues this past year.


Awareness is the first step to transforming behaviors and the Holy Spirit which lives inside of me, has been revealing to me one of the roots of my adult lifelong battle with depression. Suppressing anger was destroying me from the inside out. I am so grateful to share that I no longer suppress my hurt, fear or frustration and I have experienced the healing Grace of God this past year through my husband, my adult children and the heartfelt counsel of old and new friends that God has blessed me with.


How do you respond when you feel anger? I pray that if you are struggling that you will pray and ask God to direct you to others who can help you with your hurts, fear and frustrations. It is life-giving! Life-changing!


The heartfelt counsel of a friend
is as sweet as perfume and incense.
PROVERBS 27:9 (NLT)


On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky

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Anger, Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Pause, Pray, Respond

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June 16, 2022

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Understand this, my brothers and sisters:
You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak,
and slow to get angry.
JAMES 1:19 (NLT)



Over the past year, I have been working through an Anger Workbook with my close friend, Nancy Beggs. As we have journeyed together through our anger issues and the anger issues of our spouses, God has shown me so much on how suppressing my anger and my passive aggressive ways in response to that anger, have hurt myself and my family.


Feeling anger is not a sin but a red flag warning that I am either feeling hurt, fear or frustration. It is how I respond to that feeling that will determine whether I sin or not. Both suppression and oppression of anger are sinful reactions. I knew expressing rage was wrong but I always thought that by stuffing and swallowing my anger that I was being “Christ-like” by not hurting others. But in reality, I was hurting myself and others with my passive aggressive responses.


God has shown me that I can indeed feel, acknowledge, and express my anger in a Christ-like way when I Pause (realize what I am feeling) Pray (ask Him to help me to understand what was said and whether my feelings are justified) and then allow Him to help me Respond in a loving way. At first, this was very difficult for me because I never wanted to ignite a fight and I always feared the other’s response. But it has been amazing to me how when I choose to Pause, Pray and then Respond how the outcome is so healing in my relationships with others.


I pray that this is helpful to all the suppressors and oppressors (yes it is helpful for them too!) that are reading this. Practice PPR and see the difference it makes in your life and relationships!


Don’t worry about anything,
instead pray about everything.
Tell God what you need,
and thank Him for all He has done.
Then you will experience God’s peace,
which exceeds anything we can understand.
PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7 (NLT)


On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky

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Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

Enduring Through the Uncertainties

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May 19, 2022

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“God uses uncertainty in our lives to remodel our hearts.
Don’t waste your time looking for a way out of the difficulty you’re in;
Look for Him in the midst of it.”
Bob Goff



We can certainly all agree that there is a lot of uncertainty in life, especially after what we all have experienced the past two years – the Covid Pandemic, riots, world unrest, just to mention a few, added upon our personal trials and losses. Many of us have wondered, how do we cope with all this uncertainty. Well, please do not lose heart.


During my first bout with severe depression and much uncertainty about life, I could not feel or sense God, but it did not stop me from looking for Him and I found Him in the tangible Word of God. I scoured the Scripture to find some reason for the Hope I so desperately longed for. One of the first Scriptures the Holy Spirit led me to was 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:


Therefore, we do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away,
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us
an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes on not what is seen,
but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary but
what is unseen is eternal.

As I turned my eyes from my uncertainties, trials, and sorrows to the Scripture, and ultimately Jesus, I began developing an eternal perspective of life which freed me to experience True Joy in the midst of my pain. I learned that there was an eternal purpose in my pain and I could trust the Holy Spirit to guide me through to the other side.


These past two years, even though they have not been easy, I have experienced His Peace, through it all, trusting Him with every step we took, with every bad news report that we heard. We did not lose heart because we knew Who to fix our eyes on – we knew Who we could trust because we knew Who has been faithful to us on our earthly journey – Jesus. Therefore, we did not lose heart.


Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
and suffering for drink,
He will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with our own eyes.
Your own ears will hear Him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.
ISAIAH 30:19-21 (NLT)



On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky

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Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Words Worth Listening To

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May 17, 2022

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Don’t use foul or abusive language.
Let everything you say be good and helpful,
so that your words will be an encouragement
to those who hear them.
EPHESIANS 4:29 (NLT)


I know I’ve written about words in previous posts but I came across these words by Bob Goff and wanted to share them with you.


“Powerful words gave us the gentle push we needed, the courage to push past. If we were to trace our steps back along the path that led us here, we would likely find it all started with a few well-placed words from someone we trusted.


It’s no surprise when you think about it: God set the universe in motion with words. He called for light, and the stars burst onto the backdrop of the night sky. He wanted kangaroos and koala bears, so He spoke them into existence. God‘s words have the power to create life. He gave our words the power to shape lives.


Here’s what we need to do: be picky about the words we say. They have the power to shape our lives and the lives of the people around us. Equally important, be careful about the words you cling to. Don’t read the junk mail. Check out the return address first. If it didn’t come from Jesus, it’s not worth listening to.”

BOB GOFF – LIVE IN GRACE, WALK IN LOVE


No matter where you find yourself in relationships, a spouse, your kids, a friend who is hurting, a family member struggling with an illness or disease, your words to them matter! Whether it’s words you hear or words you speak, let them be words that shape the heart with love and in love. These are the kind of words Jesus speaks! Let your words be worth listening to.



Kind words are like honey –
sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.
PROVERBS 16:24 (NLT)



On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

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Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Where or to Whom do You Turn?

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May 17, 2022

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“Affliction, difficulty, sadness,
pain and suffering
may become for any one of us
the source of discontent, of depression,
of anger, of isolation –
unless they drive us to God
and to His Word.”

ALISTAR BEGG, TRUTH FOR LIFE



Where or to whom do you turn to when you experience affliction, difficulty, sadness, pain and suffering? I know for me at the initial onslaught of affliction and suffering I turned to my own resources and strengths which had always worked and relieved my pain in the past BUT.. it only drove me to depression and isolation. It was only when I came to the complete end of myself that I turned to the tangible Word of God out of my desperation for comfort and direction.


My comfort came from the Word of God just as it did for the writer of Psalm 119 …



My comfort in my suffering is this;
Your promise preserves my life.
PSALM 119:50 (NIV)


I learned as the Psalmist did …


It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.
PSALM 119:71 (NIV)

Your commands make me wiser
than my enemies, for they are ever with me.
I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
PSALM 119:98-99

I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
Your Word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
PSALM 119:104-105 (NIV)


In reflecting back, I realized …


If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
PSALM 119:92 (NIV)


I am so thankful that during a season when I could not feel or sense God’s presence, that I had the tangible Word of God that I could turn to in my desperation. I am also thankful that God’s presence is not dependent upon my feelings – He is there regardless – always comforting and always directing if we choose to turn to Him.


On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky

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Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Relationships

Our Community

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May 5, 2022

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One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him,
“Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent!
For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you,
for many people in this city belong to me.”
ACTS 18:9-11 (NLT)



“That’s the great thing a Christian community can provide: the opportunity to establish a network of caring and compassion that can support you when you are in distress – the way Paul was in distress when he first came to Corinth. When the wind gets knocked out of you, and as you gasp and finally begin to get your breath, you find that people have gathered around you. Faces emerge from the blur. Individual faces. And they are there for you. That’s what the Body of Christ was meant to be. And that’s why we need it. Because at sometime or other, we’ll all be disoriented, discouraged and in distress!” EUGENE PETERSON


Wow! What powerful words for all of us! Not only did the Apostle Paul need a community of Christ followers to care and have compassion for him but we do too! When we find ourselves disoriented, discouraged or in distress we all need this kind of community Eugene Peterson speaks of.


In these difficult times we live in people continue to face the uncertainty of the future. Families find themselves facing a recently heard diagnosis of cancer, the ongoing battle with depression and anxiety, the loss of a loved one and so much more. The greatest travesty of all as we face all the uncertainties of life, is to find ourselves all alone!


If you know someone who finds themselves in that place – alone – invite them into your community. Your caring and compassion will be a gift to that person as they journey through the uncertainty of that situation.


The bottom line is – we need each other to endure this life until He returns!



Let us think of ways to motivate one another
to acts of love and good works.
And let us not neglect our meeting together,
as some people do, but encourage one another,
especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.
HEBREWS 10:24-25 (NLT)



On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

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Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Prayer

My Prayer

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March 26, 2022

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Dear Lord,

Help me to see that you are sovereign over the circumstances of my life, even over suffering that seems impossible to understand. Help me to see that suffering as a sacrament, something that can be a means of grace, drawing me closer to you, and you closer to me.


Grant me the honesty to ask heartfelt questions. Grant me also the humility to realize that what I need isn’t so much an answer but an embrace.



Embrace me, O God. Please. Lift me from the ash heap and gather me in your loving arms. Hold me close. Wipe my tears. And make me whole … Eugene Peterson


My thoughts …
I think it is about taking a pause and see that no matter what it is that’s going on in our lives or around us, never forget we ultimately desire for God to hold us close in His Loving Arms.


Our Master Jesus has His arms wide open for you.
And I love all of you in the Messiah, in Jesus.
1 CORINTHIANS 16:23-24 (THE MESSAGE)



On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

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Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Love

The Jesus Way is Love

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March 3, 2022

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Jesus replied,” You must love the Lord your God
with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
A second is equally important.
Love your neighbor as yourself.”
MATTHEW 22:37-39 (NLT)



We focus so much on How to live we miss out on The Way to live. I believe that at the center of The Way to live is love!


There is someone close to me I’ve been watching for many years now who knows The Way to live – her name is Janny Cakes (her nickname), my bride, who for 43 years of marriage has been living The Way of love! Why it has taken me so long to see it and appreciate it I’ll never know – just stubborn I guess! (Note to men: most of us are.) She has actually been the example of living the Jesus Way!


The Jesus Way is always the opposite of the world’s way. The world wants all the emphasis to be put on self and the Jesus Way places the emphasis on putting others first! This is who my Janny Cakes is. By the way I want you to know Janny Cakes has also learned how important it is to love herself so she can pour His love into others!


Once again reading in Bob Goff’s devotional, “Live in Grace, Walk in Love” describes my Janny Cakes to a T! I would highly recommend reading this devotional. It’s food for the soul! Thank you so much Bob Goff.


“Great love leaves little doubt because great love shows up. Great love doesn’t go away, and it never has an eye on the clock when it should call it quits. When you’re in need you learn about great love because you see people go all in to ease the burden a bit!” Bob Goff


The title of this devotion is LOVE SHOWS UP! And that’s what my Janny Cakes does, she shows up and I love that about her. Over the years her example has rubbed off on me in a powerful way . At one point in my story, I found it very hard to love like this. But what I’m learning is that it has nothing to do with the emotions of love it has everything to do with who I am, and love is a very clear part of who I am. I don’t have to hide it and I am free to express and share it with others. After all, if the Holy Spirit lives in me then the fruit of the Spirit lives through me and love is the first fruit in line!


This way of life, THE JESUS WAY, is so much better than the World’s way! This is the overwhelming desire of ours here at Endurance. Unfortunately, it is impossible to be face to face and to love on you the way we would prefer But that is why our prayers for you and sending the Encouragement boxes to all of you is so important to us! It’s our way of letting you know LOVE SHOWS UP! That’s the JESUS WAY!


Dear Children,
Let’s not merely say that we love each other;
let us show the truth by our actions.
1 JOHN 3:18 (NLT)



On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

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Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Relationships

Back to Words Again

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March 3, 2022

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A few days ago, I was reading James 3 and again WORDS was the hot topic. WORDS can either build you up and bring comfort or tear you down and create despair. I want to share with you the WORDS I read in James as translated in the Message Bible.



A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse.
A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands
of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds.
A word out of your mouth may seem of no account,
but it can accomplish nearly anything-or destroy it!
It only takes a spark remember, to set off a forest fire.
A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that.
By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos,
throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and
go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary:
You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue-it’s never been done.
The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer.
With our tongues we bless God our Father;
with the same tongues we curse the very men and women
He made in His image.
Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!
My friends this can’t go on.
JAMES 3:3-10



Did you catch that? At least for me, those WORDS are so convicting. All too often, I can be careless with my WORDS. All too often, I don’t take seriously enough the WORDS that come out of my mouth! But I am learning to pause and weigh my words before I speak! Eugene Petersen reminds us in his note on this passage:


“Huge horse, little bit-and the bit calls the shots. A small rudder is attached to the ship – and it, not the wind, determines the ships course. The tongue is like a spark in the forest. And we all know what happens when the spark catches fire!


It only takes a moment of carelessness in conversation, but in a gusty moment, that conversation can get out of hand, causing a forest full of devastation.


Can you believe that? Can you believe that there were Christians in those first century congregations who were full of praise for God, singing the hymns and making confession and entering into prayers, and then out on the streets they were gossiping, cursing, and belittling their fellow Christians with their WORDS? Well, we can believe it because we’ve all done it!”


A Prayer
Dear Lord,
Help me to realize the impact of my words on the lives of others. Help me to use my tongue as an instrument of blessing rather than cursing. Grant that when I speak my truth, I would speak it in love, that my words would be like the Lord, Jesus’ words, full of grace and truth. If it’s true as your word says, that the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart, then give me a better heart! Especially, I pray for that part of my heart….



On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

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Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Perspectives

Attitude of Gratitude

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February 18, 2022

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As I’ve been reading through Bob Goff’s devotional “Live in Grace, Walk in Love” he touches on something I believe is so important. Again, this falls in line with what I’ve been writing about related to the power of words. I have learned that words in and of themselves don’t mean much unless they are spoken in love! Bob begins by sharing a verse that sets the stage for the point he wants to make.



“A new command I give you: love one another.
As I have loved you so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples
if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35



This is such a powerful and convicting verse! But then Bob goes on to say this, and I quote:


“If our bodies can be trained to act without our conscious awareness, surely our spirits work the same way: when joy is a habit, love is a reflex!”


I absolutely love that! But then he shows us how:


“How do we make joy a habit in our everyday lives so our reflex is always love for the people around us? I can’t think of a better way than gratitude. When we are intentional about giving thanks for everything we come across, we can’t help but feel pure joy over the pure gift of another day. And when our joy becomes a habit, our love becomes a way of living!”


Oh, how I desire to live like this every day. But I also know I’m still a work in process! However, after reading this from Bob I couldn’t help but think of my wife, Jan who does live like this. She is so thankful for everything and everyone around her. You can see how this has affected the way she loves! It’s so beautiful to watch! And because of her example I’m beginning to catch this way of life as well! My encouragement to all of us is:


Adopt an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness and watch how our words of love overflow!


On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

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