By Byron Day, BCMD President and Pastor of Immanuel, Laurel, Md.
Byron Day
Strength for the journey? Sometimes life can drain us of our strength. Decisions, pressures, and commitments can overwhelm us. There are also temptations and guilt that weaken us so that we find ourselves in dire need of help.
I have learned over the years that God often allows me see or hear the testimony of others to remind me that maybe things are not as bad as I thought. An example of this is the story of Nick Vujicic (you can view Nick’s testimony at www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtweZxNGk1Y&) Nick is an Australian Christian man who was born without limbs. That’s right, no arms and no legs. Yet Nick has a powerful testimony for Jesus Christ that reminds us all that God has a purpose and plan for each of us. He tells the story of how at the age of eight he remembers praying and asking God to give him arms and legs. He would go to bed each night hoping that he would wake up with arms and legs. He acknowledges that it has been a long and difficult journey. He confesses that there were times that he wanted to give up and that there were moments of despair but with the support of his family, church and the grace and faithfulness of God he made it through those dark times. Eventually, Nick embraced God’s purpose and plan for his life and has shared his amazing testimony for Jesus Christ all over the world.
Perhaps now more than ever we need to remember that we are family and that we need each other. As I talk with pastors and others within our convention one of the common themes I hear is that of the weariness of the journey. They reveal an element of tiredness and fatigue, signs of the challenge of ministering in this age. Hearing their testimonies reminds me that we all need to hear an encouraging word from time to time. One of the ways that we are strengthened for the journey is through the support of our spiritual family. The apostle Paul reminds us of our oneness in 1 Cor. 12:12, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (NKJV). As brothers and sisters in Christ on mission with God we would do well to consider that our influence and connection extends beyond our local churches to all of convention churches. Throughout my years of working on various committees I have discovered that God has strengthened me through the ministry of others and allowed me to minister to others as we shared prayer requests and testimonies of God’s grace in our lives.
Are you weary and tired? Have the challenges of the journey of this Christian life weakened your spirit? Perhaps it is time to renew some relationships within the convention and associations, so that you won’t feel alone. God can give us strength for the journey when we work and share the journey together. Ultimately, our strength for the journey comes from the Lord “…the Lord is the strength of my life…” (Psalm 27:1) and I am sure that He who begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.