Romans 12:12
When you hope, be joyful.
When you suffer, be patient.
When you pray, be faithful.
Instructions from the book of life. Life has a way of convincing us there is no way those words written a few thousand years ago could apply to our lives today. We look around at every thing we see, convinced there is absolutely no similarities between those days and today.
But we are wrong.
We forget the one thing that connects us.
We are still humans today.
The one thing that connects us all the way back to Adam and Eve – we have hearts.
Hearts that hope.
Hearts that suffer.
Hearts that can pray.
Every heart hopes for some thing. For some one. For joy.
Every heart suffers. Here come our challenges we all face.
Can we be patient?
Do we pray?
Are we faithful in our prayers?
It’s the half way point in this verse where there is a change.
Pay close attention to the order of these words.
Paul, the apostle, our author here has been imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked – numerous times for each of these. Yet, he lives by these words.
And today – I choose to focus on the challenges we all face and because I can follow Paul’s story and his example in this book I have grown to love and trust, I am going to believe in this formula of wisdom to carry me through my remaining days.
“Father, come close. You know my hearts desire to live well a life reflecting Your presence in my life. I love You Lord. We bring our hopes and our sufferings to You. We pray, Lord. Faithfully. Amen.”
Your traveling buddy,
Janet