Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Words of Endurance

Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.
PSALM 126:5-6 (NIV)

What a promise! Think of it. When you sow in tears, you will enjoy a marvelous and abundant return on your investment. But, you may be thinking, when have I ever gone out weeping, carrying seed to sow?

If you have ever reached through an invisible wall of pain to embrace God with willful thanks, you have sown in tears. If you’ve ever been rejected by a dear one and yet turned the other cheek in love, you have sown in tears. If you have patiently endured physical affliction, or responded in love through a difficult marriage, then Psalm 126:5-6 could be your life verse. When you hurt physically or emotionally, it’s hard to muster a patient or godly response. Pain has a way of screaming for our undivided attention. But when you either offer a sacrifice of praise to God in the midst of your hurt, or respond in faith to a heartbreak of hardship, you are sowing in tears. Take heart, for one day God will reward you with sheaves of joy – all because you were faithful through tears.

Joni Eareckson Tada

Weeping may last through the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
PSALM 30:5 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Words of Endurance

For the word of the Lord is right and true;
He is faithful in all He does.
PSALM 33:4 (NIV)

Mark Psalm 33:4 down in red and underline it in bold! When everything in our world is falling apart, when the earth gives way and we feel as if we are falling into a bottomless pit, we must turn our minds to this promise. We can count on His Word to be true. It won’t lead us astray or give us false hope or empty promises.

When tragedy comes our way, sometimes we question God’s goodness, his faithfulness to us. It is then that Psalm 33:4 stands straight and tall and shouts into the teeth of the wind, “He is faithful in all he does.”

God doesn’t take a break from faithfulness. He doesn’t lapse into moral laziness. He doesn’t do anything halfway. As the NIV Dictionary of the Bible reminds us, “He is always constant and true, faithful in keeping His promises, and unchangeable in His ethical nature.” What a promise to cling to!

Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
His mercies begin afresh each morning.
LAMENTATIONS 3:21-23

On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Words of Endurance

Who are you, a mere human being,
to argue with God?
Should the thing that was created
Say to the one who created it,
“Why have you made me like this?”
ROMANS 9:20 (NLT)

From the moment you and I become children of God, our Father is constantly molding and shaping us according to His own plans. Some of that molding and shaping we may not like. We may be tempted to ask indignantly, “What are you making?” or “Why did you make me like this?”

We’re especially prone to ask questions like that after we’ve been placed in the oven. Clay isn’t pottery until it’s fired in a kiln, but time spent in the oven is no fun.

But God knows all this. He is both our Father and our Potter, and He is constantly at work forming us into a new creation. And even though some of His pottery seems to shatter into shards, in His hands even broken pottery can be made into something new and whole and beautiful. Our job is to work with Him.

And yet, O Lord you are our Father.
We are the clay, and you are the potter.
We all are formed by your hand.
ISAIAH 64:8 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Words of Endurance

The Lord your God has blessed you
in all the work of your hands.
He has watched over your journey
through this vast desert.
These forty years the Lord your God
has been with you,
and you have not lacked anything.
DEUTERONOMY 2:7 (NIV)

Whether you are an Israelite wandering in the desert or a twenty-first century Christian struggling through difficult circumstances, this is a comforting thought: “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.”

Even though God was disciplining the Israelites for their disobedience, even though their arrival in the promised land was postponed. God did not abandon them. He wanted them to learn to have confidence in His love for them and His providence in spite of the difficulties they encountered.

If you find yourself falling short of your desired goals, if you seem to “spin your wheels” rather than move ahead, if you seem to be experiencing a time of testing or discipline, think about what God told the Israelites as they wandered in the desert for forty years. And know the He is also with you today.

For God has said,
“I will never fail you.
I will never abandon you.
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper,
so I will have no fear.”
HEBREWS 13:5-6 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Dave & Jan Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Words of Endurance

Each time he said,
“My grace is all you need.
My power works best in weakness.”
So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ can work through me.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9,10 (NLT)

The weaker we feel, the harder we lean on God. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow. You couldn’t really describe that as “extraordinary stamina,” as some would say of those who suffer, nor is it a “testimony to human courage,” as those same people would say.

Hear me please: Human stamina and courage have nothing to do with it! It is human weakness God delights in using. Weakness should deepen our dependence upon Christ for strength. Lean on Jesus. Lean hard! When you do, you’ll find yourself growing stronger than you ever dreamed possible.
Joni Eareckson Tada

For I can do everything through Christ,
who gives me strength.
PHILIPPIANS 4:13 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky