Grace under Pressure

In times of trouble, be not afraid. God will be there to help us out.

12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

13 This will be a time for you to bear testimony.

14 Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer;

15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death;

17 you will be hated by all for my name's sake.

18 But not a hair of your head will perish.

19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.-Luke21:12-19

How could I know that my "end" is near? With all the pain and sorrow that I went through, life seems to be taken out of me. But looking back, I saw that my journey to recovery and healing is one of Faith, Hope, Trust and Simply Believing that God is merciful and compassionate. As what Job said, "The Lord has given. The Lord has taken away." And with my own experience, I want to add, "The Lord restores, and it is overflowing."

Did you not have an experience when you practiced something to perfection, and yet when the day to perform or do it finally arrived, nothing came out of you? Perhaps this is the reason that Jesus warns His followers and disciples not to meditate or to prepare a kind of defense. To do so, meant trust in one's own capacity. And sometimes, man can find a loophole in another man's defense. But God's wisdom are pure and irrefutable; and this is what He will give to those whom He tasked to defend the Faith.

Our troubles in life are sometimes enough to eat us alive. Sometimes we just want to end it all, to run away, to hide, to be left alone, to wallow in self pity or regret, to drown in sorrow and pain. Jesus is encouraging us to be brave and strong. To be brave and strong doesn't have to be bold acts. Most of the time, strength and courage are shown through silence, gentleness, grace-under-pressure and calmness despite the harsh turbulence around us. As the song says, "Be not afraid. I go before you always. Come, follow Me. And I will give you rest."

Image courtesy: Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo (Martyrdom of St. Andrew), Lifehack Qoutes