But remember the earlier days, after you saw the light. You stood your ground while you were suffering from an enormous amount of pressure. Sometimes you were exposed to insults and abuse in public. Other times you became partners with those who were treated that way. You even showed sympathy toward people in prison and accepted the confiscation of your possessions with joy, since you knew that you had better and lasting possessions. So don’t throw away your confidence—it brings a great reward. You need to endure so that you can receive the promises after you do God’s will.
In a little while longer,
the one who is coming will come and won’t delay;
but my righteous one will live by faith,
and my whole being won’t be pleased with anyone who shrinks back.
But we aren’t the sort of people who timidly draw back and end up being destroyed. We’re the sort of people who have faith so that our whole beings are preserved. ~Heb. 10:32-39 (CEB)
“We shouldn’t put down people who show great euphoria and excitement after a born again or religious experience. They’re right. Suddenly the world makes sense for them. Suddenly it’s okay, despite the absurdity, the injustice, the pain. Life is now so spacious that we can even absorb the contradictions. God is so great, so bottomless, so empty, that God can absorb even the contraries, even the collision of opposites. Thus salvation often feels like a kind of universal amnesty, a total forgiveness of ourselves and all other things.” ~From Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr
I love to hear people’s stories. It helps me to remember my own victories over trials. Sometimes it gives me much needed hope for a trial that I am going through. Sharing our stories helps us to put it all into focus. Everything in the end can belong to the overall story.
Heavenly Father, help me not forget my trials. Help me to weave my stories into my present being so that I can stand in wonder at the works and miracles that You have done in my life. Help me to dance in joy when other’s find their way home to You. Help me to sing Your glory when someone claims the inheritance of Your love. Amen.
