We’re never promised that life would be easy or comfortable, just abundant. Sometimes life is messy and hard. Whether they are things we’ve gone through, are going through, or will go through, sometimes we’re faced with difficult times and in the midst of them, it feels like we will not survive. Whether it’s a death, loss, grief, a transition, illness, heartache, or helping someone else through their tough times, the Bible fully equips us with examples of endurance and encouragement to persevere and push through.
Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” And Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.” We do and will suffer, but there is glory to come! God has started something (or did or will) in us, in you, that He wants to finish and has a plan! We must embrace and not erase. We must persevere and push through. (Don’t you love it when we use rhymes, alliteration, and acronyms?? :)) We must endure! We’re not expected to do it alone and we don’t have to. Godly friends and a support system can make all the difference. What glory has been revealed in you? How can you see God using the things you’ve had to endure? How can God use your perseverance in the lives around you? Take time to reflect on these things and record it (write it, type it, blog it, tweet it, paint it, sew it, whatever YOU do). Be aware of how God is and can use you through your endurance and trust in Him. ~ Kasia
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Moses had Aaron. David had Jonathan. Joshua had Caleb. Esther had Mordecai and Hegai. Ruth had Naomi (and vice versa). Mary had Elizabeth. Jesus had the disciples. Who do you have?
As we see through example after example in the Bible, we’re not not meant to go through life alone! Even without the examples, I believe our instincts just know - we need friends! We need a support system. We need a sense of community. We often think of friends and the fun times we can and do have with them. Friends are of course for those fun and easy times, but a friend beside you in a difficult time is invaluable. Friends can make the unendurable endurable. A friend can often be just what we need to persevere and push through. Moses, David, Esther, Ruth, Naomi, Mary and Jesus all faced seriously difficult struggles. Their struggles involved death, loss, a lack of physical needs, fear, and heartache. Our struggles are not so different. Just as life wasn’t always pretty and easy for them, it is not for us. They had the support of friends to help them make it through and we need that too! And I have good news! God doesn’t leave us blind wondering what kinds of friends to choose or what we need. Romans 12:9-10 says “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly [or sisterly :)] affection.” Continuing in verses 12-13 the author says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” And then in verses 15-16, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another.” A friend’s love should be genuine and an affectionate sisterly love. A friend should hold fast to what is good. A friend will rejoice in our hope and when we rejoice. A friend should weep when we weep and be patient in difficult times. Today I encourage you, whether in the midst of a struggle or in a less difficult time of life, to find your friends! It may be one, it may be a group, but don’t try to persevere and push through alone. We are still called to endure, but with Godly women by your side to encourage you, hug you, hold you while you cry, hold your hand when you can’t do it alone, argue with you when you want to give up, the journey is a little easier and more bearable. If life is sunshiny and bright now, find a group to rejoice with who will be there to weep with you when it gets a little tougher. We’re not meant to do life alone. Take the first step and reach out to a potential friend today. Thank goodness we’re not in kindergarten and no one is going to tell you she doesn’t want to be your friend because your favorite color isn’t pink. Don’t be afraid. You can do it! You need it! We all need it! ~ Kasia In the book While the Heart Waits, the author says the struggle is where God is found, not in the erasing of the experience, but in the embracing of it. Embracing looks different for everyone. From our examples in 2 Timothy 2:1-7 we see this. As the soldier embraces his struggles he makes sacrifices, stays strong, and willingly faces conflict. As the athlete embraces her struggles she is dedicated, disciplined, and diligent. As the farmer embraces his struggles he is patient, hard-working, and ready to deal with whatever comes his way. Their difficulties aren’t taken away, but they embrace and push through them. Sometimes God does take things away, but not always! Embracing doesn’t mean it’s easy or any less painful! It just means you trust God to provide what you need to make it through.
In the Psalms, David was honest with God and we can be too. In Psalm 55:4-5, David says, “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.” His pain and heartache are evident. It’s okay to hurt! But God never intends for us to run and escape struggles, He wants us to trust Him to sustain us through it. At the end of Psalm 55, David says, “Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you.” What does embracing look like for you? Take time to search your heart and understand what not running away from difficulties will look like in your life. Do you need to cry out to God? Do you need to face a conflict, cry, scream, reach out to someone to hold your hand? Do it today. When you fall and scrape your knee, eventually you have to take the band-aid off to allow the healing process to be completed. You can’t cover it up forever. Today is band-aid ripping off day! Embrace, don’t erase. ~ Kasia don’t know what kind of effect this phrase has on you, but for me, the moment I hear it I smile. It makes me sit up straight in my chair and await being told a happy ending story. It causes me to imagine that I’m wearing a big poofy princess dress. It makes me picture little girls playing dress up. It causes me to scroll through the knowledge of every fairytale story I have permanently (and maybe embarrassingly) stored in my mind. These four little words were read to us over and over as children and made us dream and write love stories for our barbies when we were little girls in those dress up clothes.
I’ve been thinking about these words lately as I’ve found myself surrounded by women on every side! My cousin is getting married, and I have been bestowed the maid of honor title. She and I grew up pretending, sometimes believing, that we were those princesses in the stories we read and movies we watched. I was always Cinderella and she was always Ariel. When we went dress shopping, they told us of a new line the store had called The Fairytale Collection. We didn’t give it much thought other than it being a cute idea. The bride suggested some of the things she liked, and the shop ladies brought poofy sparkly dresses one after another. The bride to be wasn’t even actually planning to buy a dress that day, but then... she tried on the dress. You know, THE dress. The minute she turned around her mother and I go teary eyed. It was beautiful. Miss bride to be didn’t even want to take it off. The dress just so happened to be one of the aforementioned Fairytale Collection ones... Ariel. When we discovered that, of course we cried more. It was one of those moments. “Once Upon a Time” looks different for everyone. Maybe you weren’t the girly girl playing make believe in pink sparkly dresses. Maybe you had read every Nancy Drew book before the rest of us even discovered Nancy Drew. Maybe your dream was academic, athletic, or inventive. As we grow up, we often put our once upon a time dreams in a dusty corner at the top of the bookshelf. We grow up, life happens, we write it off as a silly childhood dream. Or maybe you got your once upon a time and now what? Dreaming is over? Thinking about the once upon a time concept and of myself as a little girl pretending I was Cinderella, my life does not look anything like I thought it would. Picking up my old dusty once upon a time dreams, it appears I’m missing out on somethings at the first glance. As I look beyond the surface, I realize it was never my job to write the end of my story. God is the author of our lives, of our fairytales. Life isn’t perfect and it doesn’t always look like a fairytale. Our hair isn’t always pretty and we don’t always get to wear a sparkly poofy dress. Sometimes our princess attire looks more like a work uniform. We trade in our dress up clothes for that old t-shirt and those lounge pants we use to clean the house. But our moments aren’t over just because we are grown ups. From the time we were old enough to talk and think, God gave us the ability to dream. I know you have those thoughts, maybe sometimes fleeting, where you get a big idea that you just push away or write off because there is no way you could do that. There is no way you can do that in your mind, but that doesn’t make that feeling and thought true. He gives us dreams, big ideas and the ability to imagine for a reason. Dust off your once upon a time and let it inspire you. You are a princess with the ability to accomplish the tasks, dreams, and visions God gives you as long as He is with you. Just as the bride to be had a shining glowing moment when she put on that dress, we shine and glow and reflect the glory of God when we are used by Him. Don’t miss your moments because the once upon a time you dreamed of doesn’t look like you thought it would or because it already happened. Psalm 37: 4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” If we delight in Him, He promised to give us the desires of our heart, the desires that He puts there and that line up with His. Kasia |
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