perseverance

God is good. all the time.

learning a lot about perseverance this week. perseverance in everything in my life, not just in the areas that seem to need a little more effort. I know God has me right where He wants me, it definitely hasn't been the smoothest road, but just as Romans 5:3-4 says "we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."

yesterday Kaysi shared about how much God was teaching her about perseverance with what was going on in her family. She talked about always having this type of perseverance in her school work, and in volleyball, but never with her family and in her home life. In her rage she had thought about taking her dad's life and even possibly her own. She told us that she felt like she had been missing something; things never seemed right. she realized it was a perseverance she didn't have to get through the tough times at home. she was so blinded by her frustrations and suffering that it wasn't producing fruit, it wasn't producing this perseverance that in turn produced character and ultimately hope. she is now seeing more clearly that God will allow us to go through some extremely tough things that are meant to grow us and build our faith and hope in Christ. hearing Kaysi talk and read from her journal was an amazing blessing. this girl is very mature for her age. as she concluded her sharing of what God was teaching her, she said, even when there are tough times, God will never leave us and after every storm there is calm waters.
amen.

while we were at the capital, Santo Domingo, playing a bunch of games... my backpack got stollen. i unfortunately had my camera, phone, intern keys, intern money (1,500 paso = $35), my own spending money (1,600 paso), my swimsuit, shorts, and sandals.
huge bummer to the amazing day, but very apparent to me someone else needed that more then I do. I realized material possessions are not what I need. nor do I want them to be a distraction to my time here. I tried to quickly realize these things were no longer mine. I will say it definitely wasn't the easiest thing to get over. I asked God que es significa? what is the significance? why? but i just looked at the varsity team and thought to myself, my focus needs to be on them and persevere, because this perseverance will produce character, and this character will produce hope. not a hope in myself, but a deeper hope in Christ. He is my provider and my sustainer.