Endurance for the Journey, Healing, Hope, Pain, Relationships, Words of Endurance
Run With Perseverance: Hang Out With Other Pitchers
“Jesus the Messiah!
Father of all mercy!
God of all healing counsel!
He comes alongside us when we go through hard times,
and before you know it,
he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times
so that we can be there for that person
just as God was there for us.”
2 CORINTHIANS 1:4 (The Message)
There is nothing like having someone to journey through life’s valleys with who understands because they have journeyed the same path before you.
I know when I played baseball, my closest friends on the team, the ones that I always hung out with, were always other pitchers who understood all the stresses that a pitcher goes through during a normal baseball season.
Non-pitchers didn’t understand all the aches and pains that a pitcher has after throwing a nine-inning game. Non-pitchers didn’t understand the emotional stresses that a pitcher goes through after getting shell-shocked in the first inning of a game or the exhilaration of pitching a shutout.
We encouraged one another because we understood one another – we were journeying on the same path.
The same is true when journeying on the path through suffering …
Jennifer was more nervous than most visitors to our Endurance office. When I came into the reception area to greet her, she burst into tears. Jennifer had never seen another person with a full-quarter body amputation just like hers.
She was overwhelmed to see someone else who looked like her, someone else who understood how hard it was to button a shirt, wear shoulder pads or tie shoes. Nothing could replace what happened to Jennifer in that encounter. She had found someone else who understood.
Want to run with perseverance? Find others who are on the same journey as you – who understand.
If your church or community doesn’t have a Christian support group that addresses your specific need, consider meeting on an informal basis with others who are struggling with some of the same issues as you are. Like Jennifer, you may encounter someone who shares a similar journey, who understands the pitfalls, who lessens the loneliness that can accompany adversity.
“… I want us to help each other with the faith we have.
Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.”
ROMANS 1:12 (New Century Version)
On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky
