Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

For we know that God causes everything to work together for the good
of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.
ROMANS 8:28 (NLT)

God tells us that trials in which evil and suffering come upon us “have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7)

God refines us in our suffering and graciously explains why: “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this” (Isaiah 48:10). For emphasis, God repeats the reason.

In my novel Safely Home, set in China, Li Quan voices what some Chinese Christians actually say: True gold does not fear the fire.

Job says of God, “He knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold’ (Job 23:10). Fire strengthens those it refines. They do not seek the fire, but neither do they shrink from it.

In the journal she kept during her cancer years, Nanci recorded these verses and quotes:

And I will put this third into the fire, and test them
as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name, and I will answer them.
I will say ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘the LORD is my God.”
ZECHARIAH 13:9

“The fire only refines; it does not destroy. We are to be brought through the fire, not left in it. The Lord values His people as silver, and therefore He is at pains to purge away their dross. If we are wise, we will welcome the refining process rather than decline it. Our prayer will be that our alloy may be taken from us rather than that we should be withdrawn from the crucible. Oh Lord, you test us indeed…still this is your way, and your way is best.” Charles Spurgeon

“If God intended for all the days of your life to be easy, they would be. No, in grace, He intends for your days to be His tools of refinement.” Paul David Tripp

Then Nanci wrote:
I love you, Lord. I trust you. I thank you for your tender mercies in all that you do. Wrap my heart in your sovereign grace and love. Thank you, Lord, for valuing our faith in you so much that you test and strengthen it through adversity.

Written with permission by Randy Alcorn and Eternal Perspective Ministries. http://www.epm.org/

Excerpts taken from Randy Alcorn’s Blog. Please learn about Randy’s new booklet to be released this summer, Grieving with Hope. https://store.epm.org/future-products/

On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”
EPHESIANS 5:14 (NLT)

In the fantasy movie, Wizard of Oz, Dorothy desperately wanted to go home to Kansas. When she missed the hot air balloon ride back with the Wizard, she was devastated thinking she would never be able to go home. But then Glinda, the good witch of the south, appears and tells her that she has always had the ability to “go home”. All she had to do was tap her magical ruby shoes together and repeat “There is no place like home.”

I always knew that I received the Holy Spirit when I accepted Jesus into my heart but somehow, in my 40 years of walking with the Lord, I never realized the power of the Holy Spirit that existed within me. Many times, I approached God in prayer and asked for wisdom and guidance but as soon as I felt my prayers were answered I would resume my independent, self-reliant life depending on my own strengths and abilities.

When I became aware of the anger I had stuffed for years in my heart this realization allowed me to see the changes that were taking place in Dave’s heart. I knew I could no longer do this in my own strength. I wanted to be different and so I cried out to God for Truth. The truth about me, the Truth of His Word and the Truth from the Holy Spirit – I knew only the Holy Spirit could do the work in me that needed to be done.

So just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, when I felt completely hopeless that change would never take place in me, God woke me up one morning and I prayed. I told God that I did not know the way “home” to Him, and I asked Him to transform my heart. And just as Glinda told Dorothy, God told me that I had always had the ability to come “home” to Him through the power of the Holy Spirit that lived within my heart. All I needed to do was ask and surrender daily to the Holy Spirit. And so, I did and the adventure of transformation began.

To be continued …

“It is not by force nor by strength,
but by my Spirit,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
ZECHARIAH 4:6 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

“God uses uncertainty in our lives to remodel our hearts.
Don’t waste your time looking for a way out of the difficulty you’re in;
Look for Him in the midst of it.”
Bob Goff

We can certainly all agree that there is a lot of uncertainty in life, especially after what we all have experienced the past two years – the Covid Pandemic, riots, world unrest, just to mention a few, added upon our personal trials and losses. Many of us have wondered, how do we cope with all this uncertainty. Well, please do not lose heart.

During my first bout with severe depression and much uncertainty about life, I could not feel or sense God, but it did not stop me from looking for Him and I found Him in the tangible Word of God. I scoured the Scripture to find some reason for the Hope I so desperately longed for. One of the first Scriptures the Holy Spirit led me to was 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

Therefore, we do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away,
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us
an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes on not what is seen,
but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary but
what is unseen is eternal.

As I turned my eyes from my uncertainties, trials, and sorrows to the Scripture, and ultimately Jesus, I began developing an eternal perspective of life which freed me to experience True Joy in the midst of my pain. I learned that there was an eternal purpose in my pain and I could trust the Holy Spirit to guide me through to the other side.

These past two years, even though they have not been easy, I have experienced His Peace, through it all, trusting Him with every step we took, with every bad news report that we heard. We did not lose heart because we knew Who to fix our eyes on – we knew Who we could trust because we knew Who has been faithful to us on our earthly journey – Jesus. Therefore, we did not lose heart.

Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
and suffering for drink,
He will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with our own eyes.
Your own ears will hear Him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.
ISAIAH 30:19-21 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.
scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
HEBREWS 12:2 (NIV)

I am helped to endure my trails when I consider how Jesus endured His own. This verse tells us that great joy gripped the soul of the Master when He looked ahead to what His sufferings would accomplish. He endured for the joy of completing the Father’s will for Him. He endured for the joy He would feel at His resurrection and exaltation. And He endured for the joy of soon being able to present cleansed believers to the Father in Glory.

Jesus, did not “enjoy” the cross, but He was able to endure it for the joy set before Him. By considering Jesus, we, too, can take heart and endure.

We can rejoice, too,
when we run into problems and trials,
for we know that they help us develop endurance.
And endurance develops strength of character,
and character strengthens
our confident hope of salvation.
ROMANS 5:3-4 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In His great mercy He has given us
new birth into a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
and into an inheritance
that can never perish, spoil or fade.
This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.
1 PETER 1:3-4 (NIV)

Sometimes we’re tempted to think that life’s hardships have somehow managed to wipe eternity off the map. We imagine that our suffering demonstrates there is no such place as heaven. When thoughts like that begin to bedevil us, we need a dose of minor-league thinking: Every minor leaguer knows that no matter how uncomfortable and long the trip to the next ball field might be … the trip won’t last forever and the diamond will be waiting for him at the end.

The Bible promises us that no matter how difficult our journey may become the length of our journey never alters the reality of our destination. That is what the Apostle Peter meant when he declared that all those who have been given “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” are also guaranteed “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” And why is that inheritance secure? Because it is “kept in heaven for you.”

So be truly glad.
There is wonderful joy ahead,
even though you must endure
many trials for a little while.
These trials will show that your faith is genuine.
It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold –
though your faith is far more precious than gold.
1 PETER 1:6-7 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

For we know that if the earthly tent
we live in is destroyed,
we have a building from God,
an eternal house in heaven,
not built by human hands.
Meanwhile we groan,
longing to be clothed instead
with our heavenly dwelling,
2 CORINTHIANS 5:1-2 (NIV)

Our focus must be on the “building” to come, not the “tent” we have now (2 Corinthians 5:1). This is the one message that helped me to get through my ordeal with cancer. In the midst of tremendous fear and doubt and worry, I laid hold of God’s promise of a “heavenly dwelling” (v. 2). I took my disintegrating tent and I camped on the deep certainty God had given me for a new home.

I knew the Spirit lived within me, and I knew the Bible likens the Spirit to “a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:22). As hard as it was to face the very real possibility of my imminent death, this was a great comfort to me.

Now it is God who makes both us
and you stand firm in Christ.
He anointed us, set
His seal of ownership on us,
and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit.
2 CORINTHIANS 1:21-22 (NIV)

On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

Once again David inquired of the Lord,
and the Lord answered him
1 SAMUEL 23:4 (NIV)

Is that how my life story will read? Once again, Jan inquired of the Lord. Once again, Jan refused to make a decision until she prayed about it. Once again, Jan chose not to act impulsively but waited for God to give her direction. Once again, Jan did not take matters into her own hands but fully released them to the Lord.

Like a boomerang, David always returned to the Lord. In season and out. While running for his life and running the nation. When he messed up and when he was victorious. And the Lord welcomed him every time.

So my prayer is: Lord, please cause my own heart to continually be drawn back to you, regardless of where it has been or what it has done. Don’t let pride or fear or indifference gain a foothold in me. May my dependence on you cause me to live a life that brings you great honor and glory. And if ever there is a narrative of my days written somewhere in heaven, I pray that it will include the words, “Once again …”

He will be gracious if you ask for help.
He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
and suffering for drink,
He will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
Your own ears will hear Him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go.”
whether to the right or to the left.
ISAIAH 30:19-21 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky