I Choose Today to Endure… Author Brian Dickinson [Blind Descent] states, “Life’s journey is marked by both triumphs and falls, yet the righteous are characterized by their resilience.” We are going to fall. We are going to have setbacks. We are going to face adversity. We are going to have doubts. But God… Jesus told us in Matt 6 how to handle adversity while setting ourselves apart from unbelievers by saying, “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭31‬-‭33‬ ‭NLT‬‬ One of the reasons we go through adversity and setbacks is to show the world how God enables us to navigate them; by seeking God first because He is the one who gives us what we need to help us up, propel us forward, and enables us to succeed at overcoming setbacks. When the world sees this played out in our lives, why wouldn’t they want that kind of Father? So, don’t

Habakkuk lived in a time with a lot of challenges where it seemed like God was either not present or not loving. But yet, he chose to rejoice as he sang, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will REJOICE in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” Hab. 3:17-18 Even when the circumstances of God’s people seemed dire (and it was), Habakkuk chose to rejoice in the Lord. This takes me to a time when my 5-1/2 month old son died of SIDS. No explanation, no signs, no perceivable reason. Did I ask God why He took my son from our family? Yes! But honestly, if God Himself came down to tell me all the good things He was going to do because of Bobby’s death, it wouldn’t have made sense to me or been a good enough reason in my mind’s eye, my fiercely protective mother’s reasoning. I had to choose, like Habakkuk, to rejoice.