Definiton:
- Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
- Continuance in a state of grace leading finally to a state of glory.
I think this is the most perfect word to describe fighting for your faith with Jesus. No matter what happens, you never give up on Him because He never gave up on you.
Just look at the second definition. Continuance in a state of grace leading finally to a state of glory. Ya'll this is what loving Jesus is all about. Jesus persevered and now as received glory from the Father. He took all of our weaknesses and all of our sin upon Himself so that we could be one with the Father someday.
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21.Jesus became sin for us. For you. For me. For every baby that isn't born yet. For our great great grandparents. For EVERYONE. For each heart that was created to desire a relationship and to be loved by its Creator. That is all of us.
So what are we to do when the going gets tough? Well, it's easier said than done, but keep on trucking. Stick beside the one real thing that you know and that's the Lord. People change, situations change, we change, places change, the timing's not right, etc. But the one thing that will be consistent in our lives forever is the love of our beautiful Savior and how He views us. He loves us unconditionally. Those of you that don't know that, you're in store for a wonderful suprise. God doesn't ever look at you and say, "You disgust me", "You are not worthy", "You're ugly", "You're a failure at life", "You'll never make it anywhere in life", "You're one big disappointment". Instead, it is the total opposite! The Father looks at His obedient children and says, "You've been made clean!", "You are worthy of my love!", "You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!", "You have so much going for you and you will succeed!", "I am proud of you!". He loves us, friends. Imagine a friend of yours that has the biggest heart out there. They love with no end. They give their life up. They are fair and consistent. They don't walk in and out of your life like it doesn't matter. That is our precious Father times infinity! We cannot even fathom how wonderful our Creator is. His love for us is beautiful. His love "never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out" on us.
But so many times we don't believe it. At least I know I don't. I think that I have so many expectations I have to meet in order to be right in the eyes of God. All those things above that God doesn't say to you are exactly all the things I have caught Satan filling my mind with the past month since I have been placed as a Young Life leader. Not only has Satan been filling my mind with these things, but I have been listening to these things and believing them!! That is where what I have been learning lately comes in...
Over Spring Break, UK College Life went to Panama City Beach in Florida to spend the week together. Oh goodness, how great it was to relax. It was great to just have a glimpse of what eternal rest with the Lord is going to be like. But the best and sweetest part about all of it was coming to my senses and realizing what was going on inside of me. We read a book that week that talked about having a cross-centered life. There was specifically one chapter that really hit home in my heart. It talked about how we need to learn to talk to ourselves rather than listen to ourselves. This is because when we talk to ourselves, we are able to get things straight and see where things are going wrong. We have control. But when we are just listening to ourselves - to our own thoughts - Satan is able to control those thoughts and turn them into lies. Lately, Satan has just been feeding me those lies and has made me feel so small. He has made me think that I am unable to be a great Young Life leader and that the Lord won't help me. I have felt ugly and dumb (which all girls feel at some point) and that I have no friends. I have felt as though there is something big wrong with me because I haven't met that many girls at Tates Creek and built real relationships there yet. He has made me believe that God doesn't want me to do this and thinks I just suck at life.
I feel like many times Christians are viewed as having this perfect little life and that they don't struggle with anything. My, oh, my is that wrong. Let me tell you something... I struggle. I am the driver of the struggle bus! There are so many things that are going on in my life that I can't think straight. I carry so much baggage. I have junk. Lots of it. But at the end of the day, I am reminded, though, that I can unload alllllll that baggage, all that junk, and all those struggles onto Jesus. That's why He died on the cross. He took all our junk and all our sins on Him so that we could be seen as pure, clean, spotless children of God. This has made us righteous! We have been redeemed! We don't have to live with that anymore.
I know for dang sure that those thoughts don't go away with the drop of a hat. I have to talk to myself and remind myself that I am a beautiful daughter of the King and that I am perfect in His eyes. I know I need to tough it out and persevere so that I am led to a final state of glory. That state of glory is rewarded to the runners that run the race wholeheartedly and without stopping. With steadfastness. Despite difficulty or delay. That is the way of being right in the eyes of God. God throws struggles at you too to test your heart. I am learning patience from all of this. I know that it's not going to be easy come, easy go with leading. And with the other new leaders that I compare myself to, God is showing me that Tates Creek is completely different than every school. All of them are different. I am in a completely different situation. All of us are going to struggle. It's whether or not we fight back that matters. When we do fight back, that is when God is pleased. And God throws so much grace at us when these things happen. When we listen to Satan and His lies, that's when He is disgusted. He hates our sin, not us. He loves us and redeems us every time we turn away.
I am so thankful for that. A God who sees me and thinks I'm beautiful and deserving of this when I am actually a filthy rag and turn away from Him so often. Gosh, He is so good.
One of my favorite verses that my old Young Life leader showed me a while back that yanks on my heart's strings (now more than ever) is:
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." - Hebrew 10:35-36.God has a plan for our lives. When we let Him take control of that plan rather than Satan or even ourselves, we will receive what He has promised.
So, it looks like Casey's got a lot of waiting on the Lord to do. And a lot of praying. And a lot of talking to herself rather than listening. Hopefully I don't look like a crazy person. :)
Here's a song by Building 429 that has really hit home. I heard it on the radio yesterday when I had a meltdown about all of this. It's really great. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgFHG4rDKqw
One more thing that I just love is something I read from a bible study leader's (Angie Poston) blog recently. It's a simple quote but so true and something I've really been realizing:
Continue forward in the Lord's state of grace to share in His eternal state of glory with obedience and perseverance."It's hard to know the condition of your heart until you experience the healing you never knew you needed."
