"Done"

When you’ve done all that you can,

Prayed your prayers and worked your plan,

But still too weak to rise and stand,

What else can you do?

God says when you reach that place,

Ready to give up the race,

Don’t have strength to seek His face,

He’ll show up for you.

And when He does you’ll know how much,

He loves you and His Spirit touch,

Your soul with hope and peace and such,

You’ll put it in His hands.

Waiting on Him to come through,

It’s not the easy thing to do,

But when you see that He is true,

Through trial your faith still stands.

And every time you go through this,

There’s much less chance the grace you’ll miss,

‘Cause you’ll expect the Savior’s kiss,

When by faith you endure.

The certainty and faithfulness,

The confidence in His caress,

Jesus more and ego less,

His love makes us secure.

“For you know when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow…” (James 1:3, NLT)

Faith is the spiritual muscle that is worked when we are tested. It can start out weak, but exercise makes it strong. Endurance is tied directly to what happens when we go through a trial. If we trust God, learn the lesson God is giving us, wait on Him to bring us through it, and learn to depend upon His grace, we’re ready for the next round. We are much less apt to panic or become discouraged because we have been through things. One of my mentors said he trusted no one who had not suffered. The reason he said it is because until a person is tested, you don’t really know them. It is in the crucible of suffering that we learn who we are and what we need. No one likes it, but those who press through, always say it was worth it.

Lord, help us to endure every test, in Jesus’ name.

Art by MIkel Donahue, mikeldonahue.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Mikel, and God bless you.