Perseverance of the saints...and Moms!

     This is what I wrote about on March 15:

Yes, we are quite the gardeners around here.   At the time of this picture, I knew this pile of brown, ugly, straw-like debris would eventually be transformed into a beautiful green flower.  (I've forgotten the name again even though my dear friend and excellent gardener, Nancy, told me what it was!).  Yes, I knew this dead pile of mess could and should one day grow into something lovely and living... but still, nothing much happened for an awfully long time.   And you begin to second-guess and doubt... and grow weary with waiting.
     Sometimes, I feel like this as a mom.  Like this ugly, dead tangle of brush--desiccated, defeated, discouraged.  Do you ever know the feeling?  Maybe one of your children has messed up... or maybe you've messed up... or maybe life has just messed up.  And here's our (or at least my) tendency:  I begin to worry and doubt and fret.  "What on earth?  Will I never figure this thing out?  I must be a terrible, awful mom."  Weariness in the battles of life can make cowards of us all.
     But here's what God's never-failing Word just reminded me: "And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." (Gal.6:9)
     Sometimes we moms--well, frankly all of us whether we are moms or not--just need to be reminded; Don't give up!  Sure, it can be tough.  The battles of life can be long and frustrating and demoralizing at times.  But we do not fight them alone.  Never ever alone.
     Colossians puts it this way: "May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." (Col.1:11-12)
     It's His strength that enables us to persevere in His power.  It's His might that equips us to be patient and transforms our discouragement into joy.  It's His joy--His glorious, malaise-shattering joy even in the midst of our sometimes long, heavy slogs through parenthood... or whatever challenges you may be facing in life.
     And we can and must choose to continually "give thanks to the Father who has qualified you"--He is the Qualifier of weary moms... and discouraged students... and fearful fathers... and worn out caregivers... and battle-fatigued believers.
     We choose to daily, hourly, thank our Supernatural Qualifier.  O the power of thanksgiving in the midst of the battles!
     We can persevere in faith and joy as moms--or wherever Almighty God has placed us--because it's HIS strength and might and patience and joy and hope and love and resurrection power which He pours into and through us.
      It's all Him, and He is the One who qualifies us.
     And here's our part--to persevere and refuse to give up.  To just keep going to Him again and again: asking for His thirst-quenching, joy-filling, heart-revitalizing, energy-restoring, hope-renewing resurrection power to do whatever He's called us to do this day, this hour, this minute.  And then go to Him for the next moment...and the next... and the next.  Trusting that He'll provide and do what we can't.  That He'll do the impossible.  And that one day we will reap a harvest if we.  do.  not.  give.  up.

     This is what God can do when we refuse to give up.  Same place; same plant--six weeks later.
     Beauty from ashes.
     Like I said, I'm no gardener.  God did this completely, 100% all by His own Perfect, All-powerful Self.  We did nothing for these flowers save persevere in hope that, despite all evidence to the contrary, if we refused to give up, God would give us a harvest of beauty.
     And He did.
     And He always does.  Sometimes it just takes a while.  Ah, but the wait and the perseverance makes it all the sweeter and more satisfying in the end.
    So Happy Mother's day to all you wonderful Moms out there!  It can be tough, can't it?  But our God is working and moving.  And He's the One who can and will do all the reviving and resurrecting and equipping and filling and strengthening.  We just need to depend upon Him and ask Him to enable us to keep on doing good and refuse to give up.
     'Cause the harvest is coming.  He's promised.
     To the God of all perseverance and strength and joy and grace be all the glory.