Shifted Horizon

"God measures our progress
by our capacity to endure."
~Charles Stanley ~

Endurance -- day-in, day-out stick-to-it-ness. Now that's sticky business!

It's one thing to suffer through a tough day. Quite another for the long term. I so admire those that remain steadfast through years of toil and pain.

Circumstances that are hard is rough enough; ongoing, a true test. When one week turns into a month, and a month quickly becomes a year. Year after year, turning to five. Time marches on. Seasons change but circumstances don't. What if it becomes ten? Sometimes hard questions must be asked, pondered.

There were days I tried to be stoic (that was my first of many mistakes!), days of masked strength, days of grin-and-bear-it determination. From God's abundant grace and goodness faith grew, tried and true, and I settled in to real peace, joy, and genuine contentment.

And time marched on.





Somewhere, unbeknownst, undetected, and unforeseen, the horizon shifted. What came into view was what I thought I missed, suddenly longed for. A change in my heart's desire. A substitute mirage moved into sight. Persistent crashing waves slammed into disposition, eroding stamina. In a weakened state, the joy-robber, contentment-stealer broke through, disrupting my heart, draining my spirit, clouding my view. Who would cause such havoc? Me!

It's not that you become unfaithful. Notice I didn't say "faith-less"? (Less faith doesn't mean no faith, right?) Disciplines and behaviors don't have to change. Can you remain faithful in deed and not in attitude? Does God forgive those weary, longing-for-more days (that easily turn to weeks)? As long as you don't get stuck there!

But have you ever been so reluctant to discuss your feelings for sheer fear that you would lose control and never be able to stop? That if you ever started crying the dam would burst and you would drown in a puddle of your own tears? Or have you ever been so distressed that you absolutely could not get the words past your throat? When that happens, they have been given prominent position and too much power. The hold must be broken.

The experience of those in our "cloud of witnesses" came to mind. Abraham's difficulties through years of waiting for fruition of God's promise is well recorded. Joseph's days in prison turned to years. Job suffered long and hard for an uncertain resolution to his predicament. Moses' short journey through the desert became years of wandering without destination arrival. And David, crowned king, did not move from anointing to throne room expediently.

Thankfully, there is the Anchor to our souls that doesn't allow us to drift too far off course before He uses someone or something to draw us back. Aligned to True North. He moves a friend to notice the hurt and all it takes is a timely question of love and concern. Once expelled, the heart and mind are released. Captive no more to the self-imposed pain.

It doesn't say much of your supposed strength if you crumble when a crisis hits (to paraphrase Proverbs 24:10 ). But what if it lingers? Takes up residence in your life? We are told to endure. There isn't a clause for letting us off the hook. No statute of limitations or time period specified that qualifies us for exemption. So then, does God allow for our sometimes frail human condition that stutters and falters? That experiences a brief season of world-weariness from wishing for more, different (add a good measure of self-pity)? My guess is a conditional "yes".

The condition? Repentance. A change in my heart's desire. Turn from the sin of my sulky attitude (no excuses!). Remember that He is, ever and always, more than enough. Pick up that cross and turn to Father God.

Horizon shifted, I set my sights, hoping to stay the course. To make "progress by my capacity to endure." Enduring, by God's power, even if nothing ever changes.



Forgive, Father dear. I turn to You, choosing not to return to this dismal place where You don't reign. Grow in my faith the ability to endure -- for however long that is. As the seasons change, yet should this season never change, may my contentment in You remain unchanged. Locked into heaven's horizon.