Think of that person who has been through an overwhelming struggle…do you admire them?

Is there a part of you that HOPES you can be like them in some way when trouble knocks at your door?

Is there a part of you that fears you won’t be able to endure as they did in a similar pain or loss?

Have you heard of Helen Keller? She was born deaf and blind in a time where there was no technology like we have today: stuck in a silent, dark world until a teacher pulled her out of the emptiness. Their story became inspirational…

Do you remember the movie Unbroken? It was about an Olympian athlete named Louis Zamperini: a regular guy who could run fast, right? He became a prisoner of war in World War 2 after surviving a plane crash that left him to drift in the shark infested Pacific ocean waters for 47 days. His story made him a hero…

How about that woman at church who buried her husband and child? Her strength to survive such pain is admirable…

Joyce Meyer was abused by her father and rejected by her home-church, yet still became a best-selling author and world re-known speaker…

Don’t we admire them for their overcoming?

Do we find ourselves admiring their ability to survive?

Isn’t it interesting that we commend those who have struggled heavily….

But we complain and question and doubt and fear and worry during our own????

James 5:10-11 (CEV) tells us to follow the examples of the prophets who spoke for the Lord. They were patient, even when they had to suffer. In fact, we praise the ones who endured the most.

We praise the ones who endured the most??!!

The ones who endured rape and kidnapping like Elizabeth Smart?

The ones who suffered a terrible death at the hands of a terrorist like those in the towers or the planes of 9/11?

But we grumble and complain through our own pain and suffering?

Why is that?

Why do we celebrate the enduring of others and not our own?

Do we forget, minimize, or devalue their pain in the light of their survival or success?

Do we think that they can overcome but we cannot?

Do we honestly think Elizabeth Smart thought she was brave while being held against her will?

Do we honestly think Joyce Meyer thought she would one day be famous and would use her testimony of abuse and betrayal to help others?

Do we think Louis Zamperini was relieved to be a POW as long as he was out of the Pacific but still alive?

I don’t think they did.

I have known parents who have buried their child…and learned to smile again. But that smile does not mean they have forgotten their child.

I have known widows who thought they could never love again, let alone live again…I have also seen a widow and a widower get married, a widow find joy in new friends, a widower embrace new opportunities…But that does not mean the new spark inside them has caused them to forget their first love.

I have seen people with cancer laugh and embrace life.

Are those people special and we are not?

Absolutely, positively, 100% NO.

As the verse in James suggests, we are to remember these people who endured because they are to give us hope that we can do the same.

Those people we admire are not any more “special” than we are…I would dare be so bold to say that they wouldn’t wish their version or experience that made them have a “special trait of endurance” on their worst enemy!

What did they do that makes them seem so “special” to survive??

They chose to hang on, press on, trust the Lord, believe they could survive, opt to refuse bitterness and instead choose forgiveness…they clung to any remnant of LIGHT they could find in the DARKNESS.

It was discovered, through the evil days of the Holocost, that those who survived endured the horrific suffering because they never lost hope.

I think it should be said that surviving can mean so much more than saying a person lived through the experience…

We are capable to do the same as those we admire:

We can be hopeful in our sorrow.

We can be thankful in our pain.

We can recall our blessings in times of trials and uncertainties.

You know what? We can even become that person another may admire because of how we chose to endure…
Go ahead and chew on that thought for a minute….

The Lord is faithful to see us through…His mercies are new every morning….He desires to lavish His love on His people…

Be lavished in love today.