“Faith grows best in the winter of trial.” Rutherford
As spring comes into full bloom, we sometimes see remnants of winter and flowers that persevere despite the cold with endurance and staying power. The strength of spring is tested by a WINTER OF TRIAL.
The staying power of any athlete is the willingness to persevere. This quality alone puts them in a category all by themselves. It takes them through the winter of grueling workouts, rigorous practices, and challenging games. At the culmination of competition is the reward of spring - conquering at their highest ability.
About a year ago I wrote about a young mother who had been recently diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in one breast. As a Christian she immediately asked for prayer and purposed to find God’s plan in all of this. Her WINTER OF TRIAL included unexpectedly finding out it was stage 4 and in both breasts, dealing with many severe set-backs following a radical double-mastectomy, and withstanding months of chemo and radiation. Today, a year and 3 month later, she is recovering following her final scheduled surgery for her permanent implants. A joyful season of spring is upon her as she faithfully and patiently trusted God during those cold "winter" months of her life.
The above account is severe, but in reality all of us live in a society today that perpetuates winter. Our unstable economic and social environment causes our collective stress level to rise. Whether it is an individual or a national WINTER OF TRIAL, peace and soothing calm can be ours.
“Learn to calmly endure the stress (or as the Bible expresses it, “trials and tribulations”) with genuine patience and faith instead of anger and frustration, and an amazing thing happens: The stress, rather than making us sick and debilitated, actually serves to make us stronger, more at peace and more whole.”
(from a commentary by David Kupelian, April 2013 issue of WND’s Whistleblower magazine)
Having staying power or the ability to endure is the definition of patience. In our WINTER OF TRIAL it is faith in the One who made us that results in a staying power that is sure to bring spring.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces patience. Let patience finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 NIV
Blessings…as your winter becomes a perfectly complete spring.
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