Perseverance is Not Independent of Abiding in God

I was looking through my old Facebook notes, and I stumbled upon this one:

I was a relatively wise kid when I wrote this. Or maybe things were just going my way.

It's strange to think of where I am now, a little more than three years later. Lately, I've been tired, and wondering when that day will come when I finally rest in the arms of my Father and hear Him say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Part of me just wants to give up, to be done. 

So now, am I really living? Or am I just trying to get through?

It's unfortunate that in the midst of all my joy of the present and excitement for the future, that joy and excitement can be overwhelmed by the insecurities of today and the fears of tomorrow.

Three years ago I thought I would know where I'd be headed by now. But I am only more uncertain about the future now that my last graduation is approaching in a little more than three months. And that is okay. It's alright to not know. It's alright to feel weak.

God has given me much peace through this simple verse:

"There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." (Deuteronomy 1:31)

He is carrying me, and He is carrying you -- the whole way, until we've reached our place of rest.

I found this blog as I sat down to write this, and it also gave me peace in such a simple way. Through everything Tiffany has to say to the college graduate, there is one consistent theme, one thing that remains the same: Abiding in God.

When we are told to persevere, to press on, we aren't told to go it alone. In fact, I think a part of perseverance is forcing ourselves to stay in God's arms, no matter how restless we get. So if you want to know what perseverance looks like:

Let Him carry you.

Another Mistake, Another Opportunity for Growth

I am officially graduating college this semester -- the graduation contract I signed today says so. But along with the formality of acknowledging how many credits you've completed and are in progress of completing sometimes comes the surprise of realizing you're actually three upper division credits short.

This is easy to fix, right? Just choose from the limited amount of classes that somewhat interest me or apply to my major, fit into my class schedule, work schedule, ministry schedule, and tentative internship schedule, get an override, buy another textbook and catch up on two weeks worth of material. I make it sound really bad in my head, but I know it's not a big deal. But I don't like surprises like this, and I am not fond of change.

What frustrated me the most was that this was my mistake -- another misunderstanding on my behalf that would take too long to explain. And this mistake is in addition to another big mistake I made earlier this semester concerning an internship. In addition to another really big mistake I made about my college career that confronted me halfway through last semester and showed me I would be graduating this semester instead of this fall.

Of course, I make many mistakes. But these mistakes stand out to me because they all have to do with my college/future career, and they all involve huge misunderstandings -- all on my part. Sometimes I fear I've lost my mind somewhere between last summer and my senior year.

But my complicated explanation of my experiences lead me to something simple:

Let your mistakes grow you.

Don't let them grow on you that you get so used to making them that you don't bother to correct them anymore. But let them grow you.

And what I mean by that is allowing our mistakes to sink in, consider what we can do to correct them or do better next time, and then do it. When we take responsibility for our mistakes, the growth comes naturally. We need to let go of the notion that we're not going to make mistakes. Philippians 1:6 says that the good work God started in us will be carried on to completion until Christ comes back. So really, if we're not making mistakes, then we're apparently already perfect and we're calling God a liar.

Here are a couple blogs that also have some good things to say on making mistakes.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/career-money/features/27154-what-to-do-when-you-fail

http://blog.pastors.com/blogs/pcom/how-to-start-over-after-failure/

I especially like what the first one says about how we need to know mistakes in order to know grace. I would also say we need to know mistakes to know growth. Good stuff.

Image by regularjane on DeviantART.