"STAYING POWER, DO YOU HAVE IT?"

Good Evening to All!

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. (26) When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" (27) Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. (28) After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said "I thirst!" (29) Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.
(30) So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
John 19:25-30 KJV

I am having a bit of difficulty with this because I am having two trains of thoughts on this. While the first is obvious, I don't know how my second one came to be, but we will explore that one shortly.

It is hard enough to watch someone die, especially if it is a friend or loved one, but it is even worse to see them having to suffer in great pain.

The Bible tells us that three women and one man stayed with Jesus till the end. Jesus saw the two people dearest to him, his mother and John, his beloved disciple. Even while suffering in his agony, he was thinking about his family and loved ones. Jesus implied that John and mother were mother and son from that point on so that they would care for each other as family. After taking care of this, he returned his focus to his purpose, and fulfilled the scripture by drinking the sour wine and saying "it is finished". He had completed his mission.

Those who continued believing soon received a new mission to share all that happened and explain the meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection. Staying power, whether to see a mission through or to keep close to someone experiencing suffering, is a choice. It's not easy to continue on, but commitment calls us to remain hopeful and to stay even during the worst of times.

Now, my second train of thought may not be as touching a scene, and you may not be able to get as vivid a picture in your mind as you can with Jesus on the Cross and His loved ones surrounding Him, but I feel that it is important as well.

I'm talking about marriage. I know, most of you who have been a reader of my blog any length of time know that I have been married several times, but I was not in a "faithful walk with God" until 1998 which has been during my present marriage.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that today's society takes "staying together" in a marriage too lightly. Too many people have the idea even before they get married, "oh well, if it doesn't work out we can always get a divorce". They get "pre-nups "just in case" the marriage doesn't work out so their spouse cannot get X amount of property or money in the divorce.

Today's society doesn't know what it means to "work at a marriage". I cannot understand where they come up with the idea that when two people get married that they will automatically get along, never have differences of opinions, or different ideas. I love my husband dearly. We have been married for almost 27 years and we have definitely had our ups and downs, but we are still plugging along bound and determined that our marriage will stand. It has "staying power".

People need to look at the person to whom they are thinking about spending the rest of their life with and ask themselves if they have the staying power it will take to weather the storms that will come with their marriage, because there will be some. It is natural because of different personalities coming together, getting use to each other's little quirks and so forth. There is nothing wrong with different opinions, people just have to realize how to allow each other to have them and work out differences without getting divorced.

Marriages take work. They take stamina and staying power. A little advice, don't
go to friends or relatives about marital problems, go to God first, and ask how to handle them, then go to your spouse with the advice God has given you.

I hope this post provokes you to think about your "staying power", not only in your marriage, but in your relationship with God, and the rest of your life experiences as well. Remember anything worth having is worth working for and "sticking it out".

Another piece of advice I would like to share is that as long as you invite God into your relationship, your marriage and in every aspect of your life, you will see that what ever life hands you, you will be easier to handle knowing that God is there with you, if you will ask Him to be.

I hope that I have not lost my touch for posting, or relating what I feel God has given me in my heart to speak to you about.

I don't know if I will get back into posting "EVERY NIGHT", but I will at least try several times a week unless we get another outrageous Internet bill.

Good Night to All and May God Bless,