Imagine this: You are standing in front of an obstacle course. It looks extremely hard with so many walls to climb, holes to jump over, a current to swim against. Even so, you are excited. You are excited to get started, to push through and to reach the finish line.
A voice comes on the microphone and says "Ready... Set... Now slowly walk around the course, peacefully over to the finish line to get your ribbon. Congratulations!" What? Congratulations for what? What did you really accomplish? Those looking on have puzzled looks on their faces and aren't very impressed. That wasn't very rewarding.
You are the person about to run that course. That course is life. If there weren't any twists and turns and ups and downs, what would you really have accomplished? What strength would you really have shown? Who would be inspired by what you did? Would it be rewarding? The answers are probably nothing, none, no one and no.
The Bible says "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4 It then goes on to say "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." James 1:12
That crown of life comes after... after persevering... after persevering under trial. And while we are going through the trial we should consider it joy. We should acknowledge that God is molding us into who He wants us to be. Furthermore, through tough times we are able to count on God and boldly show God's strength in us. That allows us to glorify Him and allows others to draw near to Him seeing what He has done in us.
Yes it is hard and sometimes we just want to sit down and quit, but we wouldn't finish the course if we did. We wouldn't be mature and complete, who God intended for us to be.
For the past 10 years-ish my life has taken some twists and turns. For the past 5 years I've experienced things I never ever expected to. I'm sure many reading this can think of similar times in your own life. But as I keep going, God is writing my story, God is furthering my testimony. And perhaps closer to the end, God will help me write that book everyone keeps telling me to write. But without all those obstacles, there wouldn't be a story in order to write a book. There wouldn't be a testimony. No one would be able to see God's strength in me if I didn't have anything I needed to draw on His strength for.
So now imagine this: You are standing in front of an obstacle course. It looks extremely hard with so many walls to climbs, holes to jump over, a current to swim against. Even so, you are excited. You are excited to get started, to push through and to reach the finish line. You look to your side and there beside You is Jesus. He wants to run through this course with you. Will you let Him?
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