The theme for this year, 2024, is Patient Endurance.
I’m not gonna lie to you and say that I was excited to hear about this year’s journey. I’m not too sure what it will all entail but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be easy, nor does it sound like it’s going to be fun.
When I was thinking about patient endurance, I thought about an analogy of what patient endurance may look like.
Imagine on Christmas day you saw a big box with your name on it. It was nicely wrapped and waiting for you to open it, and when you opened it, you found out it’s patient endurance.
How would you feel? Happy, excited, sad, mad, anxious, nervous, confused?
If you are like me, you might be thinking “I just did a whole year of Kingdom Parenting, now you’re telling me I got to do a year of Patient Endurance!?!”
You would think with a box so big and nicely wrapped, you would be opening up something like prosperity or blessing upon blessings upon blessings.
It’s almost like when your parents get you a pair of socks and it’s nowhere close to anything you wanted or asked for, but it’s something that you probably need.
The reality is if you fast forward a couple weeks or months later, you will end up wearing those socks. Not because you wanted them, but because at the end of the day, you really did need socks.
I believe patient endurance is like receiving a gift we really need rather than a gift we would really want.
That’s what I feel like God is doing with us. He’s looking at our lives saying “what can I give these people that they really need”, and for some reason He landed on patient endurance.
The scripture tells us that:
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)
It seems that patient endurance is a gift from God out of the love He has for us that is meant to develop us, strengthen us and give us hope.
This Christmas I received a gift from Ryan and Theresa. It was a plaque with the verse from Romans 12:12 that says “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
To be honest, it was not something I wanted, but I am starting to see that the words are something I needed.
I believe that when we enter into this new season of patient endurance, we will all need these words of encouragement.
So what I received from the Lord, I also pass on to you:
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Romans 12:12 (NIV)