At the foot of the cross

The person with the greatest persistence that I have ever heard or read about is the apostle Paul. In the Bible in 2 Corinthians 11, he tells this story. He says, "I have worked harder, been put in jail more often, been whipped more times, without number, and faced death again and again. Five times I was given thirty nine lashes (a whipping), three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, and three times I was ship wrecked, once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled many weary miles. I have faced dangers from flooded rivers and from robbers. I have faced dangers from my own people as well as from Gentiles. I’ve faced dangers in the cities, in deserts and on stormy seas. I’ve faced dangers from men who claim to be Christians but are not. I’ve lived with weariness and pain and sleepless nights. And often I’ve been hungry and thirsty and I’ve gone without food. And often I’ve shivered with cold without enough clothing to keep me warm. Besides all this, I have the daily burden of how all the churches are getting along [the ones he started]." That’s Paul’s experience.

Now see Paul’s perspective in 2 Corinthians 4:

"Since God has so generously let us in on what He is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. [I call it a lifetime of disaster! It’s all a matter of perspective!] We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do but we know that God knows what to do. So we’re not giving up. How could we? Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. [Those are the problems and the pressures.] But the things we can’t see [our relationship to Christ and our character] those are going to last forever."

Jesus said it like this:

Matthew 11:28-29 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

Life is full of hardships and challenges that will try to stress you out. Life comes equipped with stress. You have the choice of how you handle that stress. Does the stress get placed under the rug or at the foot of the Father? You decide.