” Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:4<\/i><\/b>
\nI’ve just started the study, “Looking for Lovely” by Anne F. Downs. \u00a0In today’s homework she asks this question: “How different would your life be if you made a commitment to persevere-to not quit?”<\/i>
\nMy answer, I’d be 25 pounds lighter!!!!
\nSeriously, that is one area that I constantly struggle. \u00a0It made me think, we all have areas where we are constantly trying to persevere. \u00a0Every day I talk to friends or family who are all “persevering” through something.
\nPerseverance can be defined as a steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.
\nHere’s the catch, in order to be persevering, that means in some way, shape or form you are suffering. \u00a0After all, when you’re having fun it’s easy to keep going. \u00a0It’s when things are tough that we want to give up. \u00a0It’s not so easy to be steadfast when you’re in pain.
\nYet according to James 1:4, it is letting perseverance finish its work in us that makes us mature and complete, lacking nothing.
\nPerseverance takes work!
\nPerseverance is exhausting on so many levels, both mentally and physically. \u00a0It can leave you bone tired or emotionally spent. \u00a0There are days when it would be so easy to quit, then there are days when you feel like you could conquer the world.
\nWhat is it that makes people keep persevering? \u00a0What stops them from giving up? Why do I constantly get on the band wagon every time I fall off?
\nIs it because suffering leads to perseverance, perseverance leads to character and character leads to hope? \u00a0That is what Romans 5:3-5 says, that at the end of the road is hope.
\nHope is why we keep persevering. \u00a0 It is hoping that today will be different, that this time will be different. \u00a0It is hope that is the light at the end of the tunnel.
\nA single strand of hope is a very powerful thing. \u00a0It can move mountains, cross oceans, save lives. \u00a0Hope is the anchor to persevering, without it there is no reason to keep going. \u00a0Hope is what keeps us on course. \u00a0It is the belief that there is something better. \u00a0Hope is what gives us purpose. \u00a0Hope keeps us steadfast.
\n“…Hope is the anchor to the soul…”. Hebrews 6:19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
” Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:4 I’ve just started the study, “Looking for Lovely” by Anne F. Downs. \u00a0In today’s homework she asks this question: “How different would your life be if you made a commitment to persevere-to not quit?” My answer,… Continue reading The Hope Anchor<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1611,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/1611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}