Your Faith Guarantees Blessings

From today’s reading…

1,464 days ago I started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

I was told if I trained at least three days a week that I could earn my black belt in roughly 11-12 years.

So I wrote it down and plotted my course, but I’m not average.

I trained five to six days per week.

Then reality set in. The reality that I was about to turn 47 and was no longer a spring chicken.

I was so sore the first two months I literally hid it from my wife out of fear she’d make me quit.

I woke myself up in my sleep from just rolling over in bed.

My love handles ached!

I dragged myself up the stairs.

I held onto the roof of the car to pry myself out.

Within two months I tweaked my right knee.

My elbows have hurt almost non-stop.

My hands will throb like I’m an ironworker.

I have three jammed fingers now, which necessitated a new size 14 wedding ring.

But just as I was told on January 27th, 2017, if I train I’ll get promoted.

And I have been

Sometimes quickly. Sometimes slowly.

But in just under four years I received my purple belt.

I can now pin guys literally half my age, some of whom outweigh me by 20 to 50 pounds.

It has been hard. It has been frustrating at times. I needed some encouragement from my instructors and even my peers from time to time, but the growth and the skill and the promotions have come.

Seeking God’s will is like that.

If you put in the effort with a solid faith, which is supported and encouraged by your pastors and community, the rewards will come, because God is true to His Word.

Quite often the biggest growth comes during the darkest, most painful moments, and the only way to get through those times is to…

Stay the course. Keep the faith. Endure.

Now go sell something.