When All Else Fails...Persevere

A lot has been going on recently in my personal life and to be honest it has been very trying. The only place I know to turn to is up above to my Lord and Savior. I feel unworthy of His love and comfort knowing that I placed Him on the backburner over the last couple of years. I need to lean on God not only in the difficult times, but also in the glorious times. However, I have learned over the past week, thanks to wonderful friends, that God loves us no matter what and that He calls on us to reach out to Him especially in times of trouble. None of us are worthy of His love, but he freely rains love down on us because we were made in His image. We are broken souls searching for a place in this corrupt world, yet God knows our true hearts. We don't have to remain broken if we place our trust and faith in Christ. Regardless of how I feel the only thing I can do is to continue pressing on--persevere! I opened a book that I have shelved for too long. It is "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. I happened to open the book and came across this devotional.

Perseverance means more than endurance--more than simply holding on until the end. A saint's life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in  a while the saint says, "I can't take any more." Yet God pays no attention; he goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God's hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15).

Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life--throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God

God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet--places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ's life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, "This is eternal life, that they may know You..." (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. if we will take this view, life will become one great romance--a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.

Fight for Love

Would you fight for love in the face of adversity? Is knowing what true love is worth the risk of falling flat on your face? Is the pain that will come going to make you stronger or crush your will to seek true love?

Being a fighter doesn't mean being the strongest. Being a fighter doesn't mean being without fear. In fact fear is highly prevalent in a fight...especially one that means so much. Courage is all we need to give it our all and let the chips fall where they may!

I have fought a few battles in my day. I've been bloodied and bruised and my heart has been crushed. I am weary and not sure I can go on like this, but I know I survived and became even stronger as a man and steadfast in my belief in true love.

Believe me when I say the fight is worth it. You may get knocked down many times just as I have, but you must keep getting up and moving forward no matter how battered, bruised, and defeated you become.

True love is worth it.