According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word “abide” is a verb that means “to wait for, to endure without yielding, to bear patiently, to accept without objection”. Abiding is never easy, especially for those of us living in the 21st Century where everything from preparing food to communicating is instant. It requires active use of the fruit of the spirit—patience and longsuffering —that comes only through relationship with God.
Five minutes in I knew I was in trouble. My eyes were watering from the cold, my legs felt like lead, and I couldn’t breathe. All I wanted to do was to stop running and go home. “Candance, take a deep breath and don’t panic,” my friend told me. She could tell I was struggling and offered me advice to help me regain my focus. “Ok…got it…I think,” I responded. I inhaled, taking the cold air into my lungs. “Just breathe, Candance. Breathe,” I said to myself.
oday is your birthday. Not the day you were physically born into this world, but the day that you decide to be renewed. You survived difficult seasons in your life because, somewhere deep inside, a tiny voice (which was the Holy Spirit) kept whispering, “You will make it. God has not abandoned you.” And you believed so much in that voice that you followed it to your freedom. And here you stand, alive.
Faith is a complete and unwavering belief in something; being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). For many, faith is elusive. They say they have it only to watch it slip through their fingers the moment doubt punches them in the jaw. Maintaining faith can be difficult, but that’s were God’s word comes into play.
We can learn a lot from David. Here was a man, a giant slayer, chosen by God to be king. He had favor in God’s eyes, and the eyes of King Saul…that is until Saul lost his own favor with God. For years, David lived on the run from Saul whose life’s mission was to kill his successor. David hid in some of the most wretched places and, I’m sure, experienced moments of doubt. However, he continued to encourage himself by reaching out to God.
