A
thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle
Locations 3675-3676). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click
on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Hardship is
a fact of life. And how we handle it
tells us a lot about whether we will enjoy or endure our life. As Mark says, “And it’s that hardening or
softening that makes us or breaks us.”
Mark says, “I’ve
seen some marriages come apart at the seams when tough times hit, but I’ve also
seen hardship form a bond like no one’s business. It can turn men into a band
of brothers, and women into a ya-ya sisterhood.”
So what are
you going through right now? Mark says, “If
you’re in a tough place, a place where it’s hard to even ask what if, take
heart. No one likes tough times in the present tense, but those tests add tenor
to our testimony. And those are often the memories we cherish the most. Our
great-grandparents loved telling stories about adding water to ketchup to make
tomato soup during the Great Depression, using the outhouse in subzero
temperatures, and walking through a foot of snow to a school that was uphill
both ways.”
He goes on, “We
look back on challenges with a touch of nostalgic pride. According to one poll
of Londoners, 60 percent of those who survived Germany’s blitzkrieg during
World War II remembered it as the happiest time of their lives. It’s the tough
times— trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword—
that test our love. But that’s also how it’s proved.”
Please
remember what Mark said, “The love of Christ wasn’t proved by His miracles, as
impressive as those miracles were. His love was proved on a Roman cross. And it
has proven to be failproof. The cross is God’s way of saying, ‘Over my dead
body.’”
So what is
your hardship doing to your heart?
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