I think the thing I have learned most during our life lately is perseverance. Perseverance according to dictionary.com is "a steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement."
I've learned I can't do it alone and by my strength but only by God's.
I've learned that whether life feels up, down, or sideways I can rely on
Him. I sometimes think 'why God don't you just fix this or fix that'
but He has been showing me the beauty that comes through perseverance.
This past year has been one of the hardest of my life. We moved 1000+
miles away from our home, and family, and friends. Mike has worked crazy
hours at his new job trying to get thing sorted there. We had no
church, no friends, no activities, no doctors, no therapists. It was
intense just getting settled and sorted but I saw God's hand of blessing
through it all. Then, we had two surgeries both up north which resulted
in a 5 week journey of traveling and house bouncing for me and the kids
and Addie being in cast upper body then lower body for about 13 weeks
total. Things finally had settled down and it was the holidays. We made
it through that to be hit with an unplanned trip up north to follow up
on her feet and hips. That lead to another surgery. We found out that
Addie will need an intensive hip reconstruction followed by 5-6 weeks in
a spica cast. Which will be followed by 2-3 weeks of foot casting again
to stretch the feet back out. We are also in the process of relocating
yet again. We are not sure what exactly our future will hold but we know
Who hold our future.
This
is where the perseverance really kicks in. We must stay steady, I can't
give up hope, I have to keep pressing on and trusting that in the midst
of this God has a plan. That some how He is working it out for good. It
may hurt now but He has a plan. I must keep this as my focus in spite
of the difficulties, obstacles and discouragements we are facing. I
can't lose heart. God brought me to a couple of verses this week as I
digested and prepared for the next step of Addie's journey. One verse
was John 16:33 "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Sometimes
when we are facing so many difficult things it is easy to feel like we
must have done something wrong. This can't be what God wants for us. It
should be easy and comfortable when we are doing the right thing, but
this verse reminds us that is not always the case. Just because life is
difficult doesn't mean we aren't exactly where we should be! We WILL
have trouble not if, not maybe, but we WILL. This is normal, this is
okay. God is still good, He knew this was coming and He has a plan. I
have to persevere and hold on to that truth and not get pushed around by
the ups and downs of life.
The other verses He lead me to are Hebrews
10:36 "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God
you will receive what he has promised." & Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." We
have to persevere and hold onto the hope that He gives us because He is
faithful through it all! Continue to pray for us as we travel back and
forth and go through this surgery and recovery time. We will be doing
our best to hold unswervingly to Him, but as you all know in the midst
of the trials it is easy to be swept away in the emotions and exhaustion
of the day to day. We know God is faithful and He will carry us through
each step as He always has. We must not lose heart!
