Grit

Have you ever been faced with a mountain so big in your life, you have no idea how you're going to navigate it? Sometimes the mountains level us, humble us, chop us at the knees and leave us in a pile of despair.

Romans 5:3-4 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.

None of us like to suffer, but suffering produces a harvest of fruit when we invite God into our suffering. Suffering well requires faith, otherwise we begin to lose heart, give up and harden our hearts. Suffering with faith produces endurance, perseverance, resilience, courage and grit. It's there in the middle of the greatest storms of life where our strength of character begins to shine the brightest. Why? Because our character has been fashioned and formed by God himself through faith. And if we suffer well, we are also gifted with hope and hope never disappoints! 

Romans 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 

I can't tell you how often I think about those who suffer without hope. My heart hurts deeply for them. Suffering is hard, but suffering without hope sucks the life out of you. 

So hold onto hope and dig deep, show up, rise up, be brave, courageous, resilient, and choose grit over giving up. God's got you!