March Forth!

I just wanted to mention a quick fun something.

Yesterday was March 4th, which turned out to be significant for two reasons. The first is that it was Mya's 18 month birthday. She is no longer a baby, this is saddening. However, her little-tike-toddler self is really cute and her personality is a winner. For that I cannot complain. So, how did we celebrate? Well, we got up before the crack of dawn and took her to get tubes in her ears! Hooray! She was such a big girl! We had to wait for a little while before they took her back for the actual procedure, during which we stalled time with several wagon rides and a few trips to the play room. She is acting more like her self now, and we are sure that all will be well. Good bye babiness, hello toddlerville.

The other significance of yesterday was that I got the wonderful opportunity to teach for our youth group service last night. Josh has been fairly sick for a few days, and this left him out of commission. The timing was perfect, I had already felt led to share with them what God has been doing in my life for the past several weeks. Also, since I had the day off for Mya's surgery, I had time to study and plan. All this to say, I spoke about what I've been blogging, that God wants us to ultimately go through our tough times. We must move forward. We cannot afford to get "stuck" and find our situations hopeless, in fact that is what the enemy wants.

So, on March 4th, God brought about a message to March Forth! It's a command! Isn't God's timing kind of cool sometimes? umm...I think so.

Define perseverance

per⋅se⋅ver⋅ance /ˌpɜrsəˈvɪərəns/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pur-suh-veer-uhns]

1.	steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

2.	Theology. continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.

The Lord has kept me in James 1:2-4 and Romans 5:3-5 which talks about taking joy in our troubles. Heard this a time or two. The concept of perseverance producing character, then character hope is easy to put in words. It's not so easy (to put it VERY lightly) to believe and act upon. However, that's not even the main point the Lord is teaching me right now. You know how we will come back to the same topics or disciplines in our Christian walk, but each time we learn something new, or see something differently? Well...

Currently, the resounding idea for me is that our troubles are meant for us to go through. Literally. We must simply go through these "tough" times. It may be REALLY tough, like the kind of struggle which takes your breath away, and changes you forever. Or it could seem as petty as "oh were is my hair brush?" And these times may last for a short season, like the life span of a skin cell. Then, there is always the possibility that our trials are more like the Andy Griffith show, will it ever go away?

Regardless, we are to continue on a persistent course of action, keep moving, in a state of grace to the end. I think this was the kind of race that Paul was referring to. If there is no other encouragement in our troubles, then at least one more day is behind us and the next is here. One step at a time, but each one advancing.