S01 Ep 02 WW Pod

The transcription is about the Wisdom Workshop podcast hosted by Stephanie Oliver, focusing on topics like perseverance and endurance. It emphasizes the importance of knowing your purpose to push through challenges. It discusses how struggle can strengthen us spiritually and lead to blessings. The transcript includes quotes from authors and references to biblical verses to illustrate these points. Stephanie encourages listeners to keep going, trust God's plan, and find strength in faith despite delays or hardships. Welcome to the Wisdom Workshop, the show that brings you timeless truth you need for everyday life. Join our host, Stephanie Oliver, for a fresh perspective from God's Word on the topics that matter. Whether you're facing cultural confusion, financial pressure, relationship challenges, or just trying to grow in your faith, you're in the right place. Proverbs 24 says, the wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger. In the same way, the wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger. In the same way, the wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger. In the same way, the wise are mightier than the strong. In the same way, the wise are mightier than the strong. In the same way, the wise are mightier than the strong. If you find it, you will have a bright future, and your hopes will not be cut short. So grab your journal, your coffee, or just a quiet moment, because in a world full of noise, wisdom wins every time. Hello, my name is Stephanie Oliver, I'm an author, speaker, associate pastor, and your host for the Wisdom Workshop Podcast. I am so glad that you are joining me today. We are diving into a topic that I think is not everyone's favorite, but it's one that will give us the strength and capacity for hope and victory like nothing else, and it's about perseverance and endurance. I want to start with a quote from one of my favorite authors. His name is Andy Andrews, and this is from his book, The Traveler's Gift. He says, it's not the size of your problem, but the size of your persistence that will determine your success. Wow, that reminds me of how important it is to keep going, and that's really the goal today. Our conversation is all about inspiring you to keep going, carry on, keep moving, no matter what you face. So I want to share three things that I think are really important thoughts or truth that we need to focus on when we are pressing through a hard moment or pushing through a hard thing. The first one is to recognize that perseverance begins with purpose. I think about some of the most productive times of my life, and the most impactful moments were when I had to push through something hard to get to something good. I think it's always worth it. It's always going to be worth it when you are pursuing something that God has given you to do, and you face adversity or opposition, and you make up your mind and set yourself in a place where you can push through. Before you can really endure anything hard or get through it, you have to know why you're on that road, any road that seems to be challenging. If you don't know why you're on it, you are not going to want to continue. So purpose really gives your perseverance direction. I think about just a time in my own life when I was really tempted to just give up. This reminds me of a time years ago when I had just started in the embroidery business, and I had done all of this training and just worked on learning how to connect with suppliers and had really identified a group of suppliers that we thought were going to be useful for us, and they were local to where we were at the time. Within a year, a lot of the textile industry had moved overseas. Within that first year, every supplier that I thought we would work with turned out to be they were closing their doors, or they were not going to be open long. It seemed like we were faced with one adversity or opposition after another. It made me even question, what am I doing? But I can remember going back to the mission and the vision for why I even got involved in that business. It pushed me. It pushed me to find solutions. I think it's so important that when you're tempted to stop and to give up something that you know God's called you to, that you go back and revisit the why. Why are you there? Because that will give you the push you need to go forward and to find solutions when it seems like there's nothing but problems. I think about the word perseverance, and the meaning of the word is interesting. It really means persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. A more biblical perspective of that would be the ability to continue in faith and action despite the difficulties, the opposition, the suffering, or delay. It basically involves enduring trials, which builds character and hope, and trusting God through those challenges, which lead you to a place of spiritual maturity, and as the scripture tells us, lacking nothing. As we talk and dive into the subject, I want you to consider how well you persevere and what that looks like for you. I was talking to a group of women just this week, and one of the things we recognized was that perseverance wasn't hard when something was difficult physically or even at times difficult emotionally. What really challenged our capacity and willingness to keep going was when there was a delay. Part of that definition of persevering is navigating the delay. I think that we get into moments where we start things in faith, and then the aspect of time comes into play, and we get discouraged, or we get disappointed, and we don't want to do it anymore. I believe the Lord wants us to recognize that delay is also a form of adversity that we have to learn to navigate if we're going to achieve success in the things God's called us to. I think it's important that it's this ability for you to decide ahead of time. You're not going to give up. You're going to believe what God says from the beginning, and then as you continue forward, even in the face of delay, not just suffering or opposition or feeling bad or someone saying something or doing something that kind of contradicts what you need to happen, it's really recognizing it doesn't matter what comes against me. Even if that is a delay, I'm going to keep forward, keep moving forward, and I'm going to allow the Lord to help me to keep going. I think that perseverance is really the strength that you demonstrate based on that decision. It's you saying, I'm going to live not just by what I see, not just by what I have, not just by even what I want in this moment, but I'm going to live by what God says is for me, and I'm going to live that way and pursue that no matter what comes against me. I want us to recognize that perseverance begins with purpose. You've got to know your why. You've got to know who's called you and what he's called you to, and you've got to know why you are in that space. Sometimes your why is just simply, I'm being obedient. I don't know all of why God has me here. I just know he's told me to do this, and I can't do anything but what he's told me to do. That's enough. God's word for you in that is enough. It's enough for you to stand up and say, I can keep going. That's the first one. Perseverance begins with purpose, and it involves you deciding ahead of time that you are going to stay on this road no matter how hard or how long it takes. The second thing I think I want us to focus on is the fact that struggle strengthens us. Now, that's a thought you have to sit with for a minute. Struggle strengthens me? Really? Because there are times I feel like the struggle bus needs to leave my front door. I am so tired at times of feeling like stuff is a press. I think that we get that way, and I'm just being honest here. I get tired of the struggle. I get so happy when something works out, and something my daughter always says, we don't have to struggle anymore. It is just not fun, but I want you to recognize you don't have to be resentful, and you don't have to be resistant to something that involves a struggle. When you are walking by faith, you understand what Scripture says. Endurance is built in adversity, but endurance is what gets you to the promise. Sometimes what feels like resistance or what feels like struggle is really the training that God is using to strengthen us, and that's so important. I think about James 1, verses 12 and 25. They say that God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Think about that. He blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation, and afterward, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Verse 25 says, but if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, that's the law of love, by the way, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. Both of those scriptures bring me into view of two important things. Patience is a part of endurance. You can get through this. It may take some time, but you can get through this, and that there is a reward of blessing on the other side, but I get there by keeping my focus and my attention on the perfect law that sets me free, and that's the law of love in Christ. Listen, he loves us, and his love never fails, and his love is perfected in us through everything we face, and so I want us to approach adversity and approach struggle not with animosity, anger, frustration, resistance. It really kind of speaks to our entitlement when we get frustrated because something doesn't go our way. Who says it has to go our way? The cool thing about being a believer is that even when it doesn't go our way, it's going to go our way because all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose, so I want us to remember that there's a blessing in us patiently enduring testing and temptation, and there's a blessing in us looking to the Lord and reminding ourselves constantly of his love that's always at work in our life. Another scripture I think about when I think of this idea that struggle strengthens us is Romans chapter 5, verse 3 and 4. It says, since we've been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ, our Lord, has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance, and endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation, and this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Boy, that is a mouthful. We could probably have a whole episode just on Romans chapter 5, verses 1 through 4. The reality is we are faith-filled believers, and the Bible says that just shall live by faith. This is a lifestyle for us, and we live in this incredible privilege. You hear a lot in our culture today about privilege, whether it's racial privilege, or economic privilege, or pretty privilege, whatever it is, we have a believer's privilege. We have a privilege where we're able to live this life here on earth at a place of joy and strength, no matter what the enemy throws at us or what life brings against us, because when we run into problems and trials, we know that it's working in us a capacity for the promise of God to be fulfilled in our life. That's important. So I want us to remember when we're tempted to resent our struggle, or we're tempted to be ashamed of our struggle, or we're tempted to be angry because of our struggle, or feel self-pity in our struggle, that there's no room for that in the life of a believer. We can rejoice in our struggle because it's producing endurance, and endurance, remember, is what carries us into the promise, and according to Romans, it doesn't just lead us into the promise. It gives us strength of character, and it strengthens our hope of salvation, and that hope never disappoints, and so that's what we are moving towards, no matter what it is God's called us to, no matter what it is that we're facing on our way there. We are moving toward a promise of hope that doesn't disappoint. That's amazing. One more scripture I want to think about before we go to our wisdom nugget for the day is that Galatians 6, 9 reminds us, let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing, listen, if we don't give up. We got to keep going. We have to keep going. We cannot afford to let exhaustion and weariness be our standard. It's not our MO. We don't live in that space. Yes, we might experience fatigue. Yes, we might experience exhaustion, but we do not stay there. We do not get tired of doing what is good, and what is good is what God has put before us to do, and we know that at just the right time, we're going to reap that harvest. It's what motivates us to get up, even when we're exhausted. It's what motivates us to keep going, even when we are tired and worn, because we know that in getting back up, we receive the help we need from the Holy Spirit and the empowerment. I even feel like that action of getting up is our act of faith. Sometimes we feel like that act of faith has to be this huge demonstration of supernatural power, but sometimes just getting back up, it is the moment of supernatural power. I want to tell you about a time when I was fighting physical illness. Honestly, it just seemed impossible to do what I was called to do, which was to parent my three young children at that time. I was dealing with a degenerating spine and had a real difficulty walking and maneuvering. I had a six-year-old. I had a three-year-old who was almost four, and I had a six-month-old. We had just moved to a new state, and my husband traveled quite a bit. I had to figure out how to make it work while working with my kids and wearing a full brace across my entire midsection. The brace was an important part of my support, because there were times that parts of my spine would not work properly, and my hip joints, and there was a lot going on. And I was working in this brace, just having to get up every morning and put this back brace on that covered my entire midsection and made it difficult. I couldn't bend over in it, but it stabilized me. I remember feeling one morning like this had been going on for several months, and I was just exhausted. I was at a place where I felt like I can't do this. I cannot care for these children properly in this disabled state. All I remember the Holy Spirit telling me that one morning, it was like in October, was just to get up. I thought, that's the hard part, Lord. I cannot get up. My back and my hips would not cooperate. I remember this conversation of back and forth between me and God, and all He would say to me was just get up. It was such a gentle, loving voice to say just get up, just get up. I remember turning my body sideways while laying flat in the bed, and I started just repeating what God had already said to me, just get up, just get up, just get up. Each time I repeated that, I felt strength come into my body. I remember getting up, and I remember stabilizing myself and putting my brace on. I remember asking the Lord, how am I going to make it through this day when I'm barely able to move? The Lord began to show me throughout that day not only how to use my hands, but also how to use my feet. That day I experienced this tremendous breakthrough. I was able to fix a PB&J sandwich with my feet for my kids. It was an incredible, supernatural empowerment. I couldn't bend over, and I needed help doing things. I was also able to teach my daughter how to help me do some things, and at six years old she became an incredible help in those moments. I look back on that time, and I think to myself, wow, it felt like such a struggle, but it taught me strength I didn't even know I had, and it helped me look for solutions in places I didn't even think about before. I want to encourage you today that we're not to get tired of doing what is good. Those moments when we feel like we have nothing left, lean into the voice and the Word of God. He will provide for you in supernatural, uncanny ways that will blow your mind. Today I don't have to wear a brace. I have full use of my back, my hips, and the Lord has brought healing into my body in such a phenomenal way. But I look back on that season, and I remember that even then He was working miracles and healing in my life. And that struggle taught me to accept it in ways that I didn't really expect it. And I want you to be the same way. I want you to be willing to accept the miraculous intervention of our loving God, maybe in ways you don't expect. We're going to go to our Wisdom Wind for the day, and I will see you on the other side. Hi, I'm Carolyn with your Wisdom Wind today. Proverbs 14 reminds us that a wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hand. This isn't just about a physical home. It's about the atmosphere you create in your heart, your relationships, your work, and your daily rhythm. Every day you're building something, peace or pressure, faith or fear, patience or frustration. Wisdom doesn't shout. It whispers. It nudges you to pause before reacting, to pray before deciding, to speak life instead of letting irritation lead the moment. And the beauty is, you don't build alone. God gives strength, clarity, and grace for every brick you lay. Today, ask the Lord, what am I building with my words, my choices, and my mindset? Invite Him into every room of your life. With His wisdom, you're not just surviving. You're building something strong, steady, and full of His peace. Thanks for joining us for that Wisdom Wind. Let's hop back into the episode. Well, I want to finish up our conversation today with Philippians 1-6, and I want to talk about the last thing that I think helps us persevere. Philippians 1-6 says, And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. That is one of the most encouraging scriptures I have ever had to lean on when walking through something difficult, and it reminds me that persistence is really part of a decision to rely on God more than myself. It's really me understanding He's going to do for me what I cannot do for myself. If I allow room for Him to do that, and so I just want us to remember that as we think about this last point when it comes to perseverance, and that's the point that finishing in victory requires faith. Perseverance without faith becomes pride, but perseverance with faith becomes worship. We become the opportunity for God to be glorified when we push through something hard with His help, with our eyes and our attention and our focus on Him. Proverbs 24-16 reminds us that no matter how often a righteous person falls, they will get back up, but that power to get back up comes from God, not from us. You know, I think about how important it is. There's another proverb that gives us, it's Proverbs chapter 4, I think. It talks about looking straight ahead and fixing our eyes on what lies before us to mark out a straight path for our feet and stay on the safe path. Proverbs gives us such wisdom about how to finish in victory and how to exercise faith when we're coming through something hard. Faith looks like getting back up even when you've fallen. Faith looks like keeping your eyes focused on what's in front of you more than what's behind you or what's around you. You know, I tell people often the end of a thing is just as important as the beginning, and so you owe it to yourself to stay in the game, stay in the vein of whatever God's called you to, so you can finish in victory. But it will require you to be continuous. It will require you to be steadfast. It will require you to be focused, but you can do it, and when you feel like you can't remember Philippians 1.6, He's going to help you. He's going to work whatever needs to happen in your life. He is going to give you that capacity to do that. It may require that you change some things, and that's okay. You have what it takes to change. It may require that you slow down in some things, and that's okay. You have what it takes to slow down. It might even require that you let some things go, and that's okay. You have what it takes to let those things go. I had a word from the Lord in my devotional time earlier this week, and He literally said to me, this time I need you to slow down. There's some things coming up around the corner in your life that you're going to need to hang a curve, and in order for you to survive this curve, He gave me the vision of like a train going around a track, and it was just moving at this wonderful pace, but there was a curve on the side of a cliff coming up, and the train needed to be able to hang the curve without derailing. But to do that, it wasn't going to have to do anything different but slow down. Not same momentum, but same direction, same people, same goal in mind, just moving at a pace more consistent with God's. You know, when God slows us down, that's an important opportunity for us to know that that means He's protecting us, and He's helping us push through something that's going to be different. It was important that I don't let discouragement and disappointment or even distractions cause me to rush through something or to hurry up. I think about how sometimes we get afraid of things, and we'll try to push through, and we'll try to do it quickly, because who wants to sit for a long time in what's difficult? But God is faithful, and sometimes He slows us down in the difficult things so we don't get it wrong, and we don't derail in the process. I hope that analogy blesses you, because it really helped me understand what God wanted me to do for this season in my life, and I know that to finish in victory, I'm going to have to trust His leadership. That's what faith requires of me. Faith tells me that I trust God's Word. I trust His leading. I trust the prompting and the encouragement and the conviction of the Holy Spirit more than anything else in my life, and that's an important consideration for all of us. If you expect to make it to the other side of whatever you're facing that's hard, you're going to get there by faith, and that faith is going to require that you let God be in control, no matter what it feels like, no matter what it looks like, no matter what someone else says it is. God's Word, His voice, the conviction, the prompting, and the leading of His Spirit are the things that are going to get you through. There's a mantra that I say to myself whenever I don't understand something, and it's the fact that God is already and always at work in my life on my behalf. I want you to take that to heart today. Remember that no matter what you're facing, no matter how difficult it is, you have what it takes to persevere because God is always and already at work in you. I hope this blesses you today. Please share this podcast with others that need to hear it and subscribe. We would love for you to join our community of those who live wisely. Thank you for joining me today on the Wisdom Workshop podcast. If this encouraged you, share it with a friend who is seeking God's wisdom. And remember, wisdom wins every time. Thanks for joining us today on the Wisdom Workshop. Remember, as Proverbs 24 reminds us, victory comes through wise counsel and strength is found in wisdom. So whatever you're facing this week, seek God's insight, approach it with faith, and walk in truth. Until next time, stay grounded, stay growing, and never forget, wisdom wins every time.