If your life includes disabilities, you probably already know that perseverance is needed in different ways. If you sense God stirring you towards ministry in some capacity, here are four aspects of perseverance that can help sharpen your understanding of what perseverance looks like in the midst of disabilities.
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Transcript:
"We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 NIV
More than 20 years ago, a woman I had never met asked me a question that has stayed with me, all these years later: how do you know you are in God’s will?
When Jesus walked the earth, people often asked Him specific questions about checking the boxes or having the right theology; many of these questioners may have wanted to know something similar to that woman who crossed my path long ago. Jesus’ answer was often to ‘follow Him.’ In other words, to do life with Him. Part of what He was saying was that in the doing of life with Him, we would understand His teaching. We would see it play out in our own lives, His Word become flesh yet again. If we choose not to do life with Him, not to include Him in our daily lives, we’ll never truly ‘get’ what He means in His ‘didache,’ or teachings. Just like Jesus said to His first disciples, you have to come along and see what He does and how He does it before you may be able to understand your next step. And when you do actually follow Him, others will see that you’re living out His will for you, too. If you’re really following Him, it’s not something that can easily be hidden.
You may already know that that twenty-year old question has led to a Key Ministry project we’re calling “Finding God’s Ministry Purpose for Your Life,” emphasizing 7 “P” words that have been demonstrated in the lives of the ministry leaders we work with. We began this project in the summer of 2022, asking 20-25 ministry leaders questions about how God led them into ministry, the challenges they have encountered and overcome, and what they’d like the Church to do to truly become a place of belonging for people of all abilities.
At DATC2023, I presented on this topic, and in May 2023 we hosted a webinar with Jess Ronne as part of this project. In my conversation with Jess, the “P” word she focused on was ‘perseverance.’ I encourage you to listen to the webinar for the full discussion of Jess’s insights into perseverance.
For today’s podcast, we’re doing a deeper dive into the importance of perseverance when disabilities are part of your life.
When thinking about disabilities, perseverance might mean that you make long-term personal sacrifices of time, or let go of personal dreams, to care for a loved one who can’t care for themselves. Or it might mean checking assumptions about a child’s behavior, to discern why misbehavior is happening, to help the child perform better in his or her environment, whether at home, church or school.
If you sense God calling you to ministry in some capacity, here are four aspects of perseverance that can help you sharpen your understanding of what perseverance looks like in the midst of disabilities, so you can more clearly understand God’s will for you as you persevere:
Perseverance and obedience go hand in hand. Persevering in mundane things of life, doing what God has for you to do today, will help you increasingly persevere over time. Eventually, this perseverance will allow you to see where God is working, even in the midst of your challenges. Zechariah 4:10 urges us not to “despise the day of small things.” Every ministry leader we work with has had to learn to be faithful to do small things. After this obedience and perseverance, God multiplied their work into bigger things.
Accept unanswered questions. It’s virtually guaranteed that Christ-followers will have unanswered ’Why God’ questions. Part of perseverance is to continue to be obedient, even when prayers are answered no, or answers to ‘why’ never come. Some of our questions will not be answered this side of eternity.
No one likes it when their dreams seem to be shoved out of reach. But God has a way of redeeming dreams for different purposes than what we originally envisioned. In Jess Ronne’s case, she was always an excellent writer, and likely would have been a successful published author, even without the disabilities that have impacted her life. Yet it’s hard to imagine that she could have had such a powerful impact on the way the world sees caregivers and disabilities without the challenges that her family has faced.
What does this mean for you? The sooner you can get to a place of peace and acceptance of the unanswered ‘why’ questions in your relationship with Christ, the sooner you can see Him open opportunities to bless others in a ministry capacity.
Perseverance in faithful relationship to Christ is required for any ministry calling. Ministry opportunities can become opportunities for idolatry, or glorifying self over God. Our world is littered with stories of people who have achieved worldly recognition and success in ministry, only to make poor choices that end up destroying their work, relationships with their loved ones, and cause great harm to the name of Christ.
There is a temptation to power in answering God’s call; even Christ Himself was tempted in this way. Don’t think it can’t happen to you. Persevering in an intimate relationship with Christ is a non-negotiable, especially when He opens ministry opportunities for you.
Persevere with Him and He will persevere with you. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says, we are not to lean on what we understand, but to trust Him wholeheartedly, acknowledging Him in everything we do. His move within your move is to make your path straight, or provide understanding of what you need to do now, and also go ahead for what you will need later.
Jesus created His followers to change the world.
If you sense or even know that you have a calling from Him, but you don’t know what you’re supposed to do, we encourage you to bookmark this page and subscribe to our monthly newsletter KeyNotes to stay current on this project, and all other Key Ministry work. Our resources may be one of the things that God uses to help make your ministry calling more clear.
Click here to learn more about Jess Ronne’s work, books and ministry. And if we can help you in pursuit of your ministry calling, reach out to the Key Ministry team. Our core values are connection, collaboration and discipleship.
