Roses and Thorns

As I think of what God has in store for me in the future, excitement pulses through me. He has provided a way for me to receive training for missions through the Coast Guard, He has filled my heart with a burden for unreached, remote people groups, and I cannot wait to see where He ends up placing me. Hard work and difficult days lay ahead of me, but is any mountain peak worth climbing if it does not demand every ounce of strength you have and then some?

So I stand on this side of the mission field, admiring the view and eagerly anticipating the day that God brings my dreams to fruition. Very much like someone admiring rose bushes from afar, enjoying their beauty and fragrance but not knowing the pain of tending such bushes---observing the beauty but not experiencing the thorns. I know and see how rewarding missionary work can be---sharing Christ and watching lives be transformed---but I also know that such work is not without pain, loss, and hardship; following after Christ does not come without a cost. Right now I can see the "roses" but not the "thorns".

As I think through these reflections, I wonder if I'll be able to make it and endure the hardships God sends into my life or will I just crumble to pieces? How can I know when I don't know? I suppose I cannot know until I am there, but this I do know that God's grace is sufficient. Now I do not know the hardships---thorns--- that lay ahead, but I do know the One who does; the same One who holds me in His hand.

So I see the roses from here and know the thorns lay ahead, and I follow on confident---not that I have the strength and endurance to remain steadfast in trying times---but confident that the One who has planned the trying times is also my precious Savior who makes me stand, who holds me in His hand, and who will provide me with the strength and endurance I need to face any trial that He gives me.

I am not strong, but I am to fix my eyes on the One who is.

Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:3).