The Sustaining

"Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit." Luke 4:14 (NIV)

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I have entered hard seasons whole and come out of them depleted, certain that survival was the best I could hope for.

I did not expect to come out stronger than I went in.

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But Jesus did not merely survive the wilderness. He returned in power, the same Spirit that led Him in sustaining Him all the way through and bringing Him out with more, not less.

I have known this too, the strange strength that meets me on the other side of what should have broken me.

I called it resilience, or good genes, or simple stubbornness.

It was You, sustaining what I could not have sustained alone.

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Forgive me for expecting only survival when You promise sustaining.

You do not lead me into hard places to leave me depleted there.

You bring me out in power.

Sustaining Spirit, carry me through this the way You carried Him, and bring me out in power, not just alive.

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A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for sustaining, not merely surviving.

Thank You for bringing me out stronger than I went in.

Sustain me now, all the way through. Amen.

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