Do you find that in any great endeavor: parenting, starting a business, higher education, mentoring, church planting, getting married, sticking to a budget, training for a marathon, starting a school, following Christ…there is always a honeymoon period, where excitement and motivation comes readily. As with a marriage, following the honeymoon is often when the really hard work begins: the labor of love that is tenacity, dedication, long-suffering, sacrifice, humility, patience, faith, forgiveness, commitment, and vision. I feel as though this describes the very trenches I find myself in in so many areas of my life at the moment. Nothing is easy. Everything is a choice– to run the race and not look back. Praise the Lord that “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”  (2 Peter 1:3) That, above all […]