“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming...” My dear warrior,
There are times in our lives when it feels like no one is rooting for us to win, and everyone is looking for us to fail. It seems like no one is for you and everyone is against you. Sometimes you wonder if anyone out there has thought about cheering you on, or if anyone is on your side. You feel alone, completely abandoned, like there is not one sympathetic soul out there rooting for you. I have learned that oftentimes, while those who are against us are the loudest, there are silent spectators watching us, waiting for us to step into our identity. These are the ones who are for us, who are quietly rooting for us, praying for us, and cheering for us. They are sitting by, waiting to see what we will do, staying out of our way because they want to see us succeed. They are watching from the sidelines because they know the decisions we have to make must be our own. They know the victory has to be ours.
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“Any area of our lives for which we have no hope is under the influence of a lie.”  My dear warrior,
The Christmas season is a time of hope because we take time to remember Christ our Savior’s birth. But with all the stress that comes with the holidays (the shopping, cooking, cleaning, travelling, etc.), we often find ourselves in the middle of very difficult circumstances, things don’t seem to go as planned, and we can have bad days that sometimes just feel hopeless. Just this past week I found myself crying out to God and telling Him that I would much prefer to feel the weight of His glory than the weight of sadness. There are times when we may have particularly bad days, or struggles that just don’t seem to end. In those times of heartache or of losing hope or of fear and anxiety we may find ourselves wanting to throw in the towel, wanting to give up, and telling God that we don’t want to do this anymore. If you are feeling anguished this holiday season, let me encourage you, my dear wounded warrior.  “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” – Romans 5:3-5 My dear warriors,
On Sunday I had the joy of getting to listen to a brilliant man of God speak about suffering. It is something that has been on my heart for some time now, and I knew I would write about it today. As warriors, as Christians – and as humans – we are frequently faced with the reality of suffering. In these past few months, I have been dealt more than one heavy blow in my own life; I have met a woman who was thrown from a building and had nearly every bone in her body broken; I have met a man grieving the loss of his father; I have met a young woman without a place to call home. Tragically, suffering is part of the Christian life. According to scripture, it is a critical part of our formation, it is a critical piece of us becoming the men and women of God we are meant to be. |
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Mere Humanity: Becoming a Mature Christian in an Immature World 
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