January 12

What motivates you to stay on track for Jesus? Our daily lives can be so rough; we struggle with ourselves and what's going on around us. No one ever said it would be easy following Jesus, but the rewards and those moments that we see His work come to light make it all worth it. I've noticed that when I cry out to Him for help and I feel like I just can't continue on, He offers me a glimmer of hope. One day I was feeling hopeless and just as I finished praying l glanced down at my phone read the words to an old hymn; that gave me peace. I then got out of my car and walked into the grocery store and sitting outside was a sweet young man with an extra chromosome, singing loudly with his headphones on; he made me smile. That's when I realized that God was offering me encouragement to keep going and had reassured me that He had heard me. Make sure you don't miss the rewards while you're lost in despair.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10