endurance: the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially : the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity
Endurance... Perseverance.... patience
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
(Ro 5:3-5., NIV)
I never understood endurance until I began training for a half-marathon last year. (note i never ran the half marathon, but that is a different story for a different day). I can distinctly remember the day i hit 8 miles, the day I hit 9 miles, and then finally 10. Every time during a training run once I got past 7 miles I felt like I was just in "endurance" mode. The body is getting tired and your brain and muscles are yelling at you to quit, and yet in your mind you know you have a goal that you want to reach. Finally the running ap says "10 miles", you slow your pace and walk for a minute or two thinking to yourself "wow I can't believe I actually did it". The next time you run 10 it gets a little easier, then the next time even easier, and so on and so forth. At the end of each run, my hips hurt, my muscles ache, and I feel completely spent, and yet I smile because I know I can now do it.
Life can seem a lot like this sometimes. Our days are grinding and we find many challenges ahead of us. There are days that our hearts are telling us to just quit, throw in the towel, and give it up. Our minds and souls are screaming "NO".
Romans 5:3 tells us to "rejoice" in that suffering. Understand this the word rejoice actually means to try to find joy in suffering even if you can't directly see it. Let's face it I don't know of anyone who finds joy in tribulation, do you? I seriously doubt it. Here is what happens. If you skip all the way to end of verse 4 and beginning of verse 5, you read that we get "hope, and hope does not disappoint us". Every time we make it through a tribulation we gain hope. Remembering that is what helps us to find joy in our sufferings, because we know it builds on the end result, that is hope.
Now I'm like you I would just as soon not deal with tribulation. I would rather not have tough times in life. I would definitely choose not to have stress, tears, and headaches. I would prefer life to be smooth sailing. Reality is that is not, nor will it ever be. Every tough time we deal with builds us up for the next, and we enter the next time of tribulation with hope.
I hope this brought some light into your day,
Chris.
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