SEASON 2, EPISODE 22, “GOING HOME”

47

THE STRENGTH TO ENDURE

“God does not protect all good people from misfortune, but what He does provide is the strength to see His people through the hard times.”

—REVEREND ALDEN

Why do we expect God to shield us from trouble? We often suppose that if people are “good,” God will keep problems and tragedies at bay. But the Bible shows us that our efforts to be good don’t remove hardship. Consider the apostle Paul, who faced shipwrecks and beatings and prison. And he was a very good man! God doesn’t take away the hard times, but He does give us the strength to overcome challenges.

It was the same for the Ingalls family. After a tornado sweeps through Walnut Grove, Charles is inconsolable. The twister has destroyed his crops and his hope. He decides to sell the farm and move back to the Big Woods of Wisconsin. As Charles is praying at the church one night, Reverend Alden encourages him to seek the Lord for the fortitude to not give up.

My older sister and her husband had a similar experience, but it wasn’t the words of their pastor that encouraged them—it was furniture. They lived in the South during Hurricane Katrina. Their house flooded and they lost everything. They began rebuilding, but their hope was running on empty.

Finally their house was nearly done, but the rooms stood bare. My sister visited her church one day to find a semitruck filled with hotel furniture. It had been donated to bless the victims of Katrina. A few truckloads later, my sister’s bedrooms were furnished with mattresses, nightstands, and dressers. As my sister looked around at God’s wonderful gift, she regained the strength to keep going.

It’s startling how wind and water can be so destructive. Whirlwinds of doubt and floods of anger can be just as devastating. Through it all, God comforts us using people and things. For Charles, it was Reverend Alden. And for my sister, a furnished bedroom. When times are tough, open your ears and your eyes to see God’s provision. He will give you the strength to endure.

What a wonderful God we have . . . the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials.

2 CORINTHIANS 1:3 TLB

Have you ever lived through a natural disaster? What about a relational or health challenge? How did God give you strength to continue?