Developing Inner Strength – Sunday, September 01, 1985
Every soul will at some time face a crisis so immense it threatens to overwhelm one. It may be sickness—the silent wearing down of nerve and sinew. It may be poverty—the despair that comes from scant supply. It may be uneasiness in the face of uncontrolled change or sorrow at a loved one’s death. It may be a slow panic that the stress which gnaws at our well-being will not go away after this week or this month or this project but is just a condition of existence. It may be the moment when we really know that life is not a blissful happy-ever-after but a place of toil, where self-worth is often in the balance.
Whatever its particulars, the stark realization comes that there is no safe passage here. Though we long for guarantees of safety and happiness, none come. Bad things happen to good people. Best efforts are not always met with best results. We’ve seen times when the deserving suffer and the undeserving pluck the prize.
So, how do we, subject to all of this, navigate the waves? What is that inner strength that allows some to face down their fears and remain courageous while others collapse? Despite the storm, some move forward unparalyzed; some do not descend to anger or despair but stay calm; some resist blaming and bitterness and move ahead, confident in life’s final goodness.
How do we, then, develop that inner strength? It may begin with a conscious decision— deciding and praying to have faith that will put away fear. We move swiftly to steady the ship in the storm instead of lying down on the deck and calling ourselves victims. We begin long before life presents us crisis to develop our personal resources, our self-confidence, our problem-solving abilities. We rely on the Lord to feed us daily doses of strength, renewing us with the awareness that two can do anything if one is the Lord. We learn life’s most valuable freedom— events may pummel us and thwart us, bruise and weary us, but finally we can choose how we will respond.
Ultimately, life cannot do us in or even bow our heads without our permission.
September 01, 1985
Broadcast Number 2,924