Enduring Faith Meaning Biblically and How to Have Enduring Faith
Have you ever prayed for deliverance then didn’t trust the outcome? This is how I feel now. With a move on the horizon and a complete change in lifestyle, it’s almost as if there’s a silent “let the testing of faith begin.” Phone bills, planning, and a baby on the way before the move. If we were in this life on our own without God, there would be no reason to have hope, nothing to put our faith in. In this post, I want to open up about some recent struggles and how God is further developing my husband’s and my own faith when everything else seems to be changing beneath our feet.
Enduring Faith Meaning Biblically: The Solid Rock of Our Foundation
It’s easy to say “have faith, everything will work out.” It’s a whole other ordeal to live this out. I think the common misconception of Christians is that they never go through trials and never carry burdens. But is this Biblical? If you guessed no, you’re absolutely right. There has never been a detail mentioned in the Bible that stated that the life of the Christian would be easy—burden free even. Sure, the burden of salvation is removed since Christ payed that ultimate price, but that doesn’t mean this life will be without heartache or trial. So, when life goes in a direction you didn’t see coming, what is left to say? The answer is check your foundation.
God says that for those that build the foundation upon Himself, it is like building a house upon solid rock. When the storms of life plunge down, the house with its foundation will stand. For a life that is built upon sand (uncertainty, this life only), it is like building a house without a foundation on sand that is pulled out by the storms.
The Wise and Foolish Builders
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matthew 7:24-27, NIV).
Trials That Produce Endurance Part 1: The Wreck
Let’s rewind roughly a year to two years go. My husband and I were living in an apartment. The first year was relatively quiet, but the second year we encountered a lot of issues with the neighbors and had to end our renting contract. Not only did this happen, but the first year we were there, we were in debt. I won’t say how much, (it was way below the average debt for the common American) but it was enough to cause us hardship. It took several months of praying and sacrificing things we wanted to do to get out of debt.
When we prayed, interesting things happened. I was still active duty at this time and was preparing to go see my husband who was stationed in Arizona at the time. I had to do a PT (physical training) test that’s done twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall. I had gone on base and was about to pull into the gym where the test was being conducted due to weather concerns when I got into an accident. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a truck coming straight at me and I couldn’t get out of the way quick enough. The truck hit me with enough force to slide both of us onto the other side of the road. My car was totaled and I had whiplash. Three Marines saw the crash and came running over to both of our cars. They asked if we were okay and said my car was smoking and helped me out of the car.
Base police had to be called since the accident happened on base and the person who totaled my car and I exchanged insurance information and I had to wait to get my car towed. During this time, I had to call one of my superiors to let him know what happened and he sent two other superiors to help get my things from the car and give me a lift to the clinic since that’s where I worked. I was then sent to talk to one of the nurses who told me to go to the ER to get cleared since Tricare would cover it since I was involved in a crash. Fast forward a few days. I was cleared to go on leave after the hospital cleared me. I was taking calls for a few days up until my leave from my insurance company. It just seemed like the process was dragging on and on. I finally boarded the plane and was on my way to see my husband for a few weeks.
I was informed by my insurance company that the car would be inspected and appraised. This concerned me a little since I still owed payments on the car and had no clue what they would appraise the vehicle at but it had been in almost new condition up until the wreck. My husband assured me that God would take care of things and to have faith in His ability. A few days go by and I got a relieving phone call. Not only was my appraisal value great, but it covered the entire cost of the loan. No more payments needed. This was a weight lifted off of us since the car (even though it could be afforded) played a part into our debt. God allowed this to happen to free us financially. What looked like a mess at the time turned into a huge blessing. God eventually made a car available in the near future that was more in budget (and we still have this car today.) God eventually provided a way out of our apartment situation since tension was rising with our neighbors conducting illegal activity. This didn’t happen until almost a year later when my husband was able to get collocated after being sent on deployment.
Trials That Produce Endurance Part 2: Into the Fire
In a Christian’s life, there are moments of peace and moments of testing (some lighter than others). For My husband and I, the next year after we got out of our apartment situation was filled with both. I was out of the military by this time. God was graceful to us and provided a safe house on base where we got some BAH (basic housing allowance) back a month and were able to get back the money that we had to pay to get out of our apartment renting contract. The first few months of peace turned into months of testing as my husband was sent on his second deployment to another hot zone. Though this deployment was not nearly as long as his first deployment, any separation from your spouse is never easy. There’s a lot of sacrifices made and time of adjustment. On this deployment much like his first, my husband’s command became very divisive and threats were being made to his base by enemy countries. God still protected him and allowed his safe return home.
As I had transitioned out of the military, I had put in resumés to almost every hospital and clinic in our state around where we lived I possibly could have. Not a single one called me back. My VA package, however, was approved and God provided for us even though I wasn’t working. We started praying harder to see where He was leading next. After a few weeks, my husband and I found we would be having a child. A few months later, my husband is now in his window to separate from the military and started applying for jobs. The jobs fell through, but He was offered a job in his step fathers company that he would be well off in and both him and our child would be completely paid for medically due to his Native American lineage. Though this was relieving news, it required and is still requiring sacrifice on our part. God is moving us towards a new horizon but we had to lose some spiritual weight in the process. Here’s s what I mean. We had Tricare bills not being sent to Tricare since the first hospital we