Endurance Training

Proverbs 22:6

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

^{6 (A)}Train up a child ^[a]in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

^{The past year...especially the last 3 months or so I have taken in some very valuable lessons. My 19 year old niece came to live with me and to say it has been a challenge would be an understatement. It has been a pure uphill battle, complete with wounds and scars. But, with time, God, and patience, a breakthrough (maybe even a few of them) was made.}

^{I'd been challenged and questioned in regards to if it was really my calling to have her in my home. I believed it was and others agreed, but overtime doubt did settle in hard. But a few weeks ago it was like a cloud broke open and the sun finally started shining through.}

^{My niece and I were having a conversation about her experiences here and the negative outcome of her choices, but at some point the conversation took a turn I wasn't even prepared for. She explained to me that she was often challenged here because we did things differently. She had experiences here that she wasn't used to in the other places that she lived. Church was not unfamiliar to her. She went when she was small and she had even attended with us a few time when we lived near her before moving back south. But, she stated that going to church on Sunday was it. She never experienced doing things like devotions, praying, attending midweek events, reading the bible, and all out walking the Christian walk outside of the church doors.}

^{I was moved by the fact that she was receptive and watching my actions more than I believed. She said she wasn't used to seeing people read their bibles everyday and taking time throughout the day to pray. She never sat and had devotions, let alone as a family until she came here with us. She had prayed in the past, but she suddenly found herself being moved to have a conversational relationship with God.}

^{In that, I had to humble myself and apologize for the moments I was anything less than a good example. I had to apologize for not setting those kinds of expectations from the beginning, but I also had to thank God that I knew without a doubt I had done the right thing by bringing her into my home. I thought my job was to prepare her for the real world and indeed it was, but God positioned the pieces in order for me to do it in a very unexpected way. He was charging me with the job of preparing her soul for the real world.}

^{I am witnessing her grow in ways I would have never thought possible. She is truly searching and seeking God. She is committing to living life as more than a superficial Christian. She is really interested in doing more than saying she is a Christian. I've seen her attitude change in just a matter of weeks and she is excited about going to church.}

^{I thank God for what he has done in her and in me through this experience. He caused me to build a more concrete foundation to replace one that was cracked and shaky, not only in her but in myself. She now has a value system that absolutely wasn't there before and a relationship with God that is going to continue to grow and thrive. I now have a view of her I didn't have before. God was able to soften my heart and allow me to see things from his perspective. Once I was able to do that he began to move mountains.}

^{This situation has caused me to raise the bar exponentially for her and my 3 little ones. I have a job to train them and get them all prepared for "the real world".}