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VIEW PERSONAL BELIEFS
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POSTED BY:
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adellie38
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DATE:
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19.11.2008 |
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SUBJECT:
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Finding the Strength to Endure |
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LOCATION:
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Burley, United States
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"About this time last year, (this was written for the local newspaper about 3 years ago), I was faced with some disappointments in my professional life. It caused the loss of my job. I was heartbroken and devistated. I couldn't understand how I could dedicate myself to a career that I excelled in, only to lose it.
There was only one VIRTUE :) above all others that got me through those touch and go months. (It was YOU!) That virtue was the ability to endure. I'm not talking about and athlete's power to push himself to intense physical lengths, such as the great Steve Prefontane. The endurance I speak of is of a more spiritual nature.
I believe that the power to endure comes from living day to day. Just like an athlete practices daily to become the best, our practice comes from the choices we make, the actions we choose, and the Christlike love we radiate. Sometimes it seems in my life I have months where all things fall into place. Those times replenish my strength to endure the more difficult ones which are sure to follow.
I think of Job in the Bible. He had the best of everything--a beautiful wife and family, homes, crops, farm animals, wealth,and the best of friends. Heavenly Father knew his faith was rooted in the Gospel, but Job was given a test. All Job had come to grow and love was taken away slowly and painfully. Yet, Job gave thanks continially to God for his life and his knowledge of what was right and true. (THIS REMINDS ME OF YOU, SHANE!)
During that painful time, I thought about what I had lost, but what I had to gain. I still had my life, choices, and good friends that stuck to me like glue. But the best part was that I knew how to go on. I found the ablility to continue to wake up each morning amidst the rubble and make more of my life because I had "practiced" doing ot so many times before. A friend said to me, "Make this the best thing that has ever happened to you," and I knew that I could.
There is a quote I found during those times that really helped. It reads,
"Greatness is best measured by how well an individual responds to the happenings in his life that appear to be totally unfair, unreasonable, and undeserved. Sometimes we are inclined to put up with a situation rather than to endure. To endure is to bear up under, to stand firm against, to suffer without yielding, to continue to be, or to exhibit the state or powe of lasting. -Marvin J. Ashton
I had "put up" wiht the difficulties in my life for a short time, but it lead the way back to endure. Now as I look back on those experiences, I am happier and blessed. I have a new career, a new home, more friends and coworkers who have truly shown me the power of love, teamwork and friendship. But the greatest gift within myself is that I have found a new level of strength and courage which was always there, but needed my trials to make it known. I am grateful for those experiences that strengthen my faith in life and the ability to go towards the brighter side of the light. "
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