karaspeak

So I spent some time in the kitchen this week...baking cupcakes. And baking always lends me time in the kitchen to ponder the going's on in my life and gives me the time to be as analytical about it as I want. It's been a rough week. Just a series of difficult events one after the other and it feels like it's going to last forever. I took a clue from my sweet hubby Nate who had been spending a lot of time in Hebrews lately (which I love). I stumbled upon a favorite passage in Hebrews 10 that reminded me of how for some of us, when we first become believers we endure a lot of hardship and persecution for what we believe...and as we grow into our faith, for whatever reason, we forget the real reason behind enduring it. We lose heart. I guess that's what happened to me amidst all this pain and struggle I've been facing. I know the way I should feel about it, I know the confidence I should have that Christ is the victor and He's going to get me out of it in His timing and methodology, and I know that the reason I am suffering is because I love Him...so why don't I remember that in the face of persecution?

I love how the writer says, "Do not throw away your confidence...you need to persevere...for in JUST A VERY LITTLE WHILE, He who is coming will come and will not delay."(v. 35-37) That little phrase appears in various places all throughout scripture, and no matter how many times I read it, it strikes me how different our view of time is than His view of time is. How perfect his timing is and how imperfect mine is. These things I am suffering (we all are suffering) are just so temporary, and they will be RICHLY REWARDED (v. 35) if we will just hold on for just a very little while.

Last but not least, the end of this passage lends this incredible encouragement...reminder to us of who we are and what we are capable of. "But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved."(v.39) Wow. So all those things I know to be true when I am not going through hard times, I just need to convert to I believe in the middle of hard times. Hard? Yes. Impossible? No. Even though it feels that way when I find myself stuck in a jungle of weeds that seem to perpetually get wrapped around my neck, I am of those who BELIEVE and are saved. Now if I can only get that to stick! The confidence will return and that confidence will cut through any "impossible" thing I'm facing.