Keeping Your Head Above Water

Sometimes life feels like we are trying to swim in a vast ocean, trying our best to keep our heads above water for as long as possible. The world, every opinion and thought of who we should be, how we should act, what we should look like, come from a very broken and convoluted perception of what a few people say is the right thing to do, and the right thing to be. It feels, at times, like we are drowning, choking on the opinions and perceptions people are trying to force down our throats.

We were created not to sink though, but to swim. We were created to run the race and finish, not to stop halfway through and let the world run us into the ground. But, do you know what our greatest weapons to counteract sinking? Endurance. Throughout the Bible we see many verses about endurance, but my favorite is Romans 5:3-4, where it says, “But that’s not all! Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope.” Did you get all that? Let’s break it down a little bit to fully understand how endurance is so helpful in this day and age.

We’ll start at the beginning, where it states, “Even in times of trouble…”, because, if you’ve made it far in life, you’ll know that trouble seems like it is always lurking around the corner. Trouble seems never too far away from the good times that you’re experiencing right now. But it doesn’t just stop there, it continues on to say, “...we have a joyful confidence knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance.” WE have joy. WE have confidence. WE have the opportunity to let our troubles develop into an endurance. An endurance that will keep our heads above water and carry us to dry land.

But what is endurance? Endurance is the power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult situation without giving way, or an event that takes place over a long distance or over a long period of time. Well which one makes more sense? I actually think both of them play a huge part in understanding what endurance can do in our lives. We have to not only go through difficult situations that test us without us giving up, but we also have to make sure our faith has the endurance to make it through every situation, no matter how tough it may seem.

And that’s where training comes in handy. We must train our faith to be strong enough and have enough endurance to withstand any obstacle that is thrown our way. That means having the persistence to do the things that will strengthen the endurance muscles of your faith. Strengthening our faith means we must be getting into the Living Word, spending time with the Lord, and gathering around people who are going to be our support and lift us up when we need a little extra help, or we’re going through a season of hardship. And these things can’t just happen every once in a while, they have to happen every single day. How do you suppose you’re going to know God’s voice if you don’t read His word, or spend one on one time with Him? And do you think those relationships you’re building are going to keep growing if you aren’t constantly watering those seeds?

Truth of the matter is, we sometimes don’t prepare for the hard times because we hope they will simply avoid us because we’re believers, but that’s not exactly true. Yes, the simple fact of the matter is, that things won’t just go away if you’re a believer, things might even seem really hard at times, unbearable even. But we also don’t have to fight our battles empty-handed like unbelievers. We have the Father, who created every single thing in this world, and if He created everything, don’t you think that He would have a solution to everything as well? We also have Jesus, who laid down His life so that we could have life, and life abundantly. And, last but very much not least, we have the Holy Spirit, who is our spiritual aid in everything on earth. He guides us in the right direction, and has the answers to everything you could ever imagine. How cool is that? We get so many awesome weapons when we fight our battles with the Trinity. And, the best part? That means we don’t have to do it alone. We have the greatest weapons this world has ever seen.

But, the thing about endurance strengthening is, is that you can’t do it just when you feel like it, or just when you’re at church. It has to be constant. It has to genuinely be something you want. Because, at the end of the day, if you can’t be trusted with the small things (like getting in the word, or spending time with the Lord everyday), how do you expect the Lord to trust you with the really big things if you gave up everytime something hard came your way? Luke 16:10 states, “If you are faithful in the little things, you will be faithful in the large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.” And, I don’t know about you, but I want to be trusted with the really great things God has for me, not just the trivial everyday stuff. To get there though, we have to make sure that our endurance can get us there. Not just to the halfway mark, and give up, but to have the endurance to run the race to completion and know at the end of the day that you gave it your very best shot.

If you feel like you are the person I mentioned in the beginning of this post, like you are sinking in a vast ocean, always know that there are so many people who want to pull you up from where you’re at. But the person who will never fail you, who will always be there to pull you out from the chaos, is God. Just like when Jesus was walking on water and Peter joined Him. Peter started to sink, but Jesus pulled him up to walk on water again (Matthew 14:25-33). He will never let you drown. He will never let you sink too deep. His hand is always reaching out to you, maybe it’s just you who needs to reach back.

Cierra likes to spend her days reading and relaxing. She and her husband, Asher, are both leaders of NYS at Citipointe Church NoCo. She is a part of the creative team and she loves spending time singing and jumping around with her friends at church. Cierra has been one of my good friends since she started going to Citipointe NoCo two years go. Ever since we meet we have continuously grown closer and closer. Cierra inspires me to follow my heart and God wherever He may lead me, no matter what others might say. She is such a woman of God and has a truly beautiful heart.

Prayer:

Lord I pray in this moment that you would speak to everyone through Cierra's words. I thank you that you are using her as your vessel. I pray that you would come into this time with each individual and give them the courage to keep going and keep fighting the fight that is against them. I thank you for giving them your strength. Please remind each of them that you have already overcome everything on the cross. I pray that each of them remember that they don't have to fight any fight alone. I thank you for everything you have done and everything you will do. Amen