Future Fruit
There's not a lot of more confusing places to be than alone with my thoughts in a time of perseverance and pressure. It seems to be a stalemate battle, an endless brigade of attack, then defend, realign, and repeat. Waves of emotion intoxicate my senses and I have no one else to turn to, but God. No one else listens as well, no one gives the right amount of reprieve from the endless war in my head. Just the simple task of being heard brings a calm to the shores of my mind.
The trials and tribulations of this world appear to me as bouts of injustice, or bad luck. I believe them to be bad, or some type of curse that I wish I could rid myself of... Until the fruit comes.
I have come to find that the testings of our faith aren't about the current circumstances, they're about the future fruit. The men and women we will soon become. The harvest of righteousness that will commence and display themselves as Christ-likeness and a beacon of light dwelling in the darkness. Perseverance is never easy whether physically, mentally, or emotionally. It is however a tool that God uses to carve the character of Christ into the hearts of us... His chosen.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” - James 1:2-4