Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It’s another cool and cloudy Spring morning and we’re not likely to have clear skies for a few days. The weather doesn’t seem to slow down nature’s Spring celebration…not just the arrival of warmer weather and fresh food, but the fact that it endured the long winter. Endurance doesn’t mean just “getting by” or merely surviving by the skin of our teeth – Endurance is pressing on through those tough times with a determination to see it through. As I consider the endurance of nature around me, I am reminded of the importance of Endurance in my life too. If I want to see Victory, I have to do a whole lot more than just ride out this Life…I need to PRESS ON. Isn’t that the way you look at Life too?

It doesn’t take much strength or stamina just to ride things out when adversity strikes in life. Some people turn to things that will distract them from their troubles while some go into denial. Some people get mad when things get tough and kick and stomp like a toddler as if they don’t deserve to suffer – while some surrender to depression and hide from the world. Some people easily lose hope and in their weakness, they don’t believe that things will get better one day soon while others walk away in an attempt to abandon the trials completely. None of these reactions are surprising at all when you consider the difference between “getting through” and “pressing on.” Unless life is snuffed out in the process, anybody or anything can “get through” the hard times. But it’s the endurance…the pressing on…the determination that sees us through AND GROWS us in the face of adversity. Endurance requires Faith, patience, and an unwavering Belief that the Great “I Am” is much bigger than the problem and that He has a Master Plan that will lead to Victory IF we just keep pressing on.

Sometimes people wonder why my life has been so filled with adversity and they’ll sometimes point a finger in judgment as if to say “You brought this on yourself.” But what they don’t see is that the minute adversity strikes my Life I hit my knees just like David did because I’m an imperfect woman after God’s own Heart too. Being Refined is much more important to me than being “right.” I don’t beg to be Delivered from the Adversity itself – although there is a time and a place for that – instead, I appeal to my God to Show me the Lesson He has for ME through it all. Because I know God refines His people through FIRE, I’m ready to Learn and Grow no matter what it takes on my part. I ask Him for the Strength to endure but MORE than that, I press into God more than ever, and I PRESS ON through the fire with everything I’ve got – and before you know it, the sea has calmed and my Faith has grown and I can see the Beauty born in pain when I get to the other side. Paul said it best in 2 Corinthians: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”

When people comment on my Strength it makes me laugh because I’m not strong at all…I’m just determined to PRESS ON to finish my race well. God says “My grace is sufficient for you and my Power is made perfect in weakness” and He’s proven that to be true hundreds of times in my Life. Anybody can sit back and ride out a storm but not everybody will fight to Endure or look to Grow through the pain instead of just getting through it. I’m a walking testimony of the power of a Mighty God and it took a whole lot of endurance to PRESS ON to Tenderize my heart for the “job.”

How about you?

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus – Philippians 3:14