My daughter has been in Israel this past week, sending pictures of an ancient land. For centuries, the camel has served as a reliable source of transportation, enduring the elements across these dry impassable regions. Most animals are stopped dead in their tracks by the sheer challenge of the hard desert conditions.
I received a call from a good friend who is going through a very long and arduous time of suffering. She has been discouraged and is looking for strength and stamina to see her through the maze. My thoughts took me to my sweet mother, who at 101 years old longed to be with the Lord. There have been times when the truth, “He gives power to the faint and to those that have no might , He increases strength”… becomes the most important reality!
While in the Darien jungles, with the stifling heat and humidity that drained all energy for the task at hand, I found myself challenged by the words, “If you run with the footman, Jackie, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, where you trusted, they wearied you, THEN HOW WILL YOU do in the swelling of Jordan.””! (Jer. 12: 5)
We are called to endure hardships, afflictions, persecutions, tribulations, grief, chastening, and temptations. (II Tim. 2: 10) Discouragement is not an option! There is a secret to endurance and my mother set the bar for me. Quitters miss experiencing the power of God’s love that comes from rejoicing in trials and difficult circumstances. He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might, He increases their strength.!”
Do you live as a soldier who is in the most critical spiritual war ever waged, or as a civilian in a time of peace, prosperity and pleasure? Your mindset regarding this question will determine how you make life’s required adjustments to long-suffering and prevailing in life’s trials. Will you thank God for each circumstance, rejoicing with hope in all things (even crying out when necessary), and will you on becoming an over-comer by doing good in your turmoil? These are the keys to the secret of endurance.
“And let us not be weary in well-doing;
for in due season we will reap, IF we do not faint.”
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
