A TIME OF TESTING

When is it okay to fold?

Most of you have heard the expression, if at first you don’t succeed try, try, try again! Sometimes trying again is hard and you just want to throw your hands up and say I quit! So what makes you decide to go on, and to try again? Usually the driving force is the satisfaction of a finished product that you can be proud of. It is a rare occasion when you get quality on your first attempt at anything.

As I have stated before, some of my grandchildren are participating in the county fair this week. One of them is enrolled in the cake decorating project. In this project you must take a Styrofoam cake and decorate it according to the requirements for your age bracket. This is not something you can do at one time, you must let the frosting rest and sanded smooth before you put on another layer, until each layer of frosting has been added. When that is completed you can start your decorative accents. It can be very frustrating to try to get your cake smooth enough to add the decorative accents to it. My granddaughter wanted to give up, because her little sister, who is three, tried to eat the cake. All that hard work was ruined and the thought of redoing it was depressing, so she didn’t want to finish. She had to start over and the task seemed overwhelming. This was a trying time for my granddaughter, she didn’t want to go through all that work again! Well, she pushed through and re-ice the cake, and ended up with an A- honor ribbon at the fair. Her choice not to finish the cake would not have been a life or death decision, but starting over and finishing it, was a lesson in perseverance.

Often your time of testing is not concerning things you can see or touch. It can just be when you’re overly tired or in your darkest hour, and you feel alone. In that vulnerable time when you were at your weakest, the devil strikes and tries to make you give up.  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. The trick is not to try to endure it by yourself. Whatever you’re going through, whatever you’re feeling, how you’re being tested, ask God for help! He has promised that he will take our burdens: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. I know people who right now are going through a health crisis in their life. It’s not always easy keeping a stiff upper lip, and putting a good front on for those around you. Sometimes you just want to say enough is enough, but then you pray and just as the Bible promises, your faith and strength is renewed.

There are others whose time of testing are financial burdens. They find themselves so far down in a hole they can’t see over the edge. Often times the testing is a prolonged event, and again the devil comes in when they are at their most vulnerable, telling them to give up, there’s no way out. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. Help is always there for the asking, and the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing, to bring your petitions to the Lord. Giving up during a time of testing is the easy way out. Hang in there, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and we all know Jesus is the light of the world, so go toward the light!

As parents we must be careful how we talk, in attitude, and in content, around our children. If they see us falter in our faith, and display a weakness in believing God has the answers, it will have an adverse effect on them and their Christian walk. Take a Post-it note and print and encouraging Bible verse on it, and put it on your mirror in the bathroom. A suggestion would be; But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible! Read it and believe it!

We as authors often find ourselves fighting an uphill battle when it comes to trying to put words on paper. There are many times when the writer’s block gets so bad we just want to give up. But when we persevere and we break through the blockage, and the words flow on the paper again, we can see why it pays never to give up! Just between you and me how many times have you prayed under your breath for God to help you work through the blockage? Are you big enough to admit it? Did you thank God for the answered prayers? Something to think about.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

James 1:2-4

 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:  

I Peter 4:12-19

And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

Genesis 22:1-14 

The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

Proverbs 17:3

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

I John 4:1

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

I Corinthians 10:13

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

I Corinthians 15:58

 

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