I’m writing for Five Minute Friday and this week’s prompt word is PERSEVERE.
That is certainly an apt word for
this season of my life. I have had to
persevere through a healing journey, a legal battle, and health issues over the
last few years, and I have felt like giving up many times.
But giving up is not really an
option, especially when you have others depending on you.
So, it seems, instead of giving up, we
need to find the best way to persevere and get to the other side.
These are a few things I’ve learned
along the way, and they are still necessary reminders to myself. I hope these reminders help someone else who
is in a season of persevering.
To persevere requires a Helper – a Helper
that is always present, strong, able and willing to uphold you with His
righteous right hand, provide for your needs and guide you to the next step. Isaiah 41:10
To persevere requires support –
support of fellow sojourners, who can pray for you, encourage you, meet
practical needs, but also just be heading in the same general direction. Ps 84:6,7
To persevere requires faith – faith to
believe in what you can’t yet see, that what feels impossible today will one
day become reality. Hebrews 11:1
To persevere requires hope – hope that
fuels your faith, hope for a better future, a way forward. Romans 15:13
To persevere requires courage – courage
to push through pain, challenges, disappointment, hopelessness. Isaiah 54:4
To persevere requires strength –
strength to keep putting one foot in front of the other, to keep showing up, to
keep building, to keep using muscles that ache.
Isaiah 40:29-31
To persevere requires diligence –
diligence to keep doing what is minor, tedious, mundane, repetitive when you
can’t see the difference it’s making.
Galatians 6:9
To persevere requires excellence –
excellence to do everything unto Him, from Him, with Him, with all your heart,
soul, mind and strength. Colossians 3:23,24
To persevere requires rest – rest from
striving, overdoing, overthinking, imagining worst case scenarios, and
everything that hinders the way forward.
Isaiah 30:15
To persevere requires understanding –
understanding how you got here and how to move forward, learning new things
about yourself, your body, your relationships, your finances and more. Proverbs 4:7
To persevere requires wisdom –
wisdom to know what to do, what to stop doing, what to choose, what to let go
of. Proverbs 3:5,6
Lastly, to persevere requires surrender – surrender of all that you are so that you can be transformed from caterpillar to butterfly, to live a life that glorifies Him. Romans 12:1,2
Good reminders.
ReplyDeleteThe one I am missing is support. Those who have that are blessed indeed.
I'm sorry you're doing it tough, Sandra. It's so hard without support. On the days when I don't, I feel His presence even closer.
DeleteSo true - rest from imagining worst case scenarios is vital. I must remember my God has got this!
ReplyDeleteYou shared great scriptures!
Thanks Jerralea. Your God truly does have this!!
DeleteTo persevere, you need some things,
ReplyDeletelike strength and hope, supportive friends,
faith that hears the angels' wings
and diligence to push past ends
that situations might prescribe,
ends that say you will not pass,
but you are of a stalwart tribe
that kicks the doubters up the ass
and then moves on while they are moaning
in the dirt they threw at you.
Perhaps in this they are atoning,
but you care not, you've much to do
in the time that you have left,
reweaving your life's warp and weft.
Thank so much, Andrew. As always, your poetry is so profound and uplifting, mixed with enough humour to lighten my day.
DeleteThank you for sharing those scriptures!
ReplyDelete