There are times when I’m not sure I have any ability to do the things I have a passion for, and there are other times I feel like I was made for those things. It is a tumultuous wrestling that sometimes takes place in the life of a believer. We struggle with life circumstances, bad health, sin, faith, and perseverance. It’s sort of like surfing. Surfing is hard! There are a lot of falls and failure, but that time you finally catch a wave — that makes it all worthwhile.

The current crises in our nation and the world have affected me deeply, as I’m sure they have many of you, Mama Bears. Some of you have been victims of injustice or violence, whether it be here in the streets of America or on the dusty roads of Afghanistan. Others have struggled with depression and death due to Covid-19 and the global pandemic. And many secretly wrestle with their own giants that seek to destroy them. While you are wrestling with whatever your own trial is, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Christ is with you in the suffering

In times like these, it can be difficult to see where Christ is. Pain can be blinding.

But we must not forget that we are not alone in our suffering. Christ knows what real pain is like, and he shows what it means to press on despite knowing a scourge is on the horizon. “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame…Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2-3).

It can hard to hear, but one way or another, with Him by our sides, each of us will get through these roller coaster trials.

The trials are part of the adventure

It hit me recently that life is like that. There’s always some new crisis just overcome with another unforeseen trial on the horizon. Crisis after crisis after crisis. It seems unyielding. What matters, though, is who we choose to be as we walk through those trials. Our faith, our trust in walking with Jesus through the danger is, in hindsight, the adventure. Our faith, our trust in walking with Jesus through the danger is, in hindsight, the adventure. Click To Tweet

We don’t always see ourselves growing into giants

I wondered recently if the men and women in the biblical stories of faith felt they were just working from crisis to crisis. Only afterward, can we look at their stories and say, “What giants of faith! What a story!”

We are in that same grand narrative, the one set before us in Scripture. It is a story full of triumph, failure, and redemption. And one day looking back, our children might be able to say of us “You should have seen my mom/dad. What a giant of the faith!”

And despite whatever current circumstance plagues us, we know where it ends. It ends at the cross. We must grasp that knowledge with our whole soul. For myself, I hope that I can keep my eyes upon the prize and not worry AS MUCH at whatever current crisis is on my plate.

Philippians 3:13-14 says, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

This is also reflected in the beginning of Hebrews 12, “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith…” (vv. 1-2).

I hope I can learn to revel in the leaning on Christ that is necessary to maintain my sanity. I know that if I do, He will enable me to express His love and compassion to others in such a way that they are drawn to Him.

This changes things: I get to participate in His grand story no matter what I’m going through. Click To Tweet I will see His goodness conquer evil. I, myself, am changed into His likeness as I stay faithful in the trials. And I know, Mama Bears, that if you also fully trust Christ, He will enable you to revel in His story, too. To Christ be all the glory!

By Jerimiah Richardson, our faithful papa bear who has devoted his services to Mama Bear Apologetics since day 1.