(It is an honor to welcome MarJean Peters to Page of Joy, again, today. She walked with me and counseled me, along with her husband Conrad, through some of the deepest sorrows in my life. Their wisdom and love for the Lord are a blessing to many. Read more about MarJean at the end of this important article that she has written for us today. I pray you’re deeply encouraged by the truth that she has beautifully articulated.  – Stephanie)

THROUGH THE KNOT HOLE: PART 1
Fight The Good Fight

I should know by now. All my years of writing, begging for inspiration to encourage others, and then. . . all hell breaks loose! I should recognize it at the get-go. You’d think. But I don’t. I just know frustration, loneliness, hurt, helplessness, hopelessness, and. . . a myriad of other bad things that give meaning to the idiom, “drug through a knothole backwards”.

Then. . . a still small voice breaks into my death wish and whispers, “You asked for inspiration. Well, now you have it.” Okay, but I forgot (again) that inspiration usually comes through tribulation. This time inspiration rose out of a passionate email:

Dear MarJean,

. . . She loves Jesus, but is weary and the days and months have been so long, often hopeless. I have been there, while not exact circumstances, I felt the long weariness and my hope wavered. Would you consider writing about faith in God when we feel like we aren’t strong enough to put one foot in front of the other—survival mode, discouraged, lonely, uncertain, dry. How do we seek godly help in times when we are so discouraged we can hardly get through the day? What are some practical tips to implement even when we don’t feel like it, to show who we are in Jesus—that He is the one with the power to heal and/or sustain, that we don’t have to climb out of the pit alone—Hope!! 

I suddenly recognized my own trials as God’s preparation to address the very things with which we all struggle—the spiritual attacks that seek to destroy our faith and blind us to the truth of who we are, whose we are, and the power available to us. So I went before the LORD. After all, He is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God (2Co 1:3-4). I share His encouragement with you: 

My dear one,

I AM your Refuge and your Strength, your ever-present Help in time of trouble. Cast all your cares on Me because I care for you. Come to Me, you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. I daily bear your burdens. I know your every thought, heartache, and groan. . . I know and I strengthen you to fight the good fight, to finish your course, and to keep the faith. I am able to keep you from falling and to present you before My glorious presence without fault and great joy (Jude 24). I will never leave or forsake you. You are not alone, I am nearer than you think—I live within you. I feel everything you feel. Everything. I know. I understand and I am for you. I want you to come out victorious. To those who overcome, I will give. . . (Rev. 2:7,11,17,26; 3:12,21).

I AM your Redeemer who provides for those who grieve. . . My precious child—you are My creation, My design for the display of My splendor. I will redeem the ashes of your failures with a crown of beauty. I will redeem your anguish and tears over the years with the oil of joy. I will redeem your death wish of discouragement with a garment of praise. You will be called an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, of the display of My splendor (Isaiah 61:3). Rejoice, My child! Again, I say it, Rejoice! Sing and make music in your heart to the LORD! I will redeem the years the locusts have eaten! (Joe 2:25).

I AM your Hope—I know, My dear one, you cannot possibly understand the eternal good of what I am doing now, how I am working all these very frustrating, painful, heartbreaking things for your good and My glory. Therefore, you must not act on your own but trust Me in this dark place. “Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on their God. . .” (see Isa 50:10-11). 

In Unbroken, Louis Zamperini, the Olympian runner, survived on a raft 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, only to be rescued by the Japanese and tortured as a prisoner of war! While still a troubled teen, Louis’ brother told him, “If you can take it, you can make it.” Incredible long-term suffering could not break his spirit. This movie/book of survival, resilience, and redemption encouraged me to persevere under trial and remain true to the Lord with all my heart (Act 11:33).

Jeannie Guyon, martyred in the 1700s, wrote that she always suffered when living in close proximity to someone on whom God was at work. Our former pastor, Larry Huntsperger, said we suffer in being transformed into Christ’s image through our circumstances (Rom 8:28-29), when we feel “the pains of childbirth” until Christ is formed in those we love (Gal 4:19), as righteous children in a evil world (Jn 16:33), and under spiritual attack from the devil himself (Eph 6:12).

Though we may feel dragged though these four knotholes backwards,” one day may we say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. . . (2Ti 4:7-8). Because Peter tells us, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast” (1Pet 5:19).

When we continue our discussion on suffering, we’ll consider “some practical tips to implement even when we don’t feel like it.”

Love and prayers,

MarJean

(Some Scriptures are hidden in my heart without addresses. See https://www.blueletterbible.org to reference much of what I wrote).

(CLICK TO READ PART 2 HERE!)

MarJean began life in the North Canadian Prairies but spent her teen years in Dallas, Oregon. She graduated from Fresno Pacific University with a BA degree in art and literature and married Conrad Peters in 1969. She taught high school art in the Portland area to put her husband through Seminary and they have ministered to churches in California, Saskatchewan, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. MarJean has taught personalities by God’s design since 2000 to individuals, couples, at retreats, seminars, church classes, and to mission groups. In 2005 they joined Arctic Barnabas Ministries in Kenai, Alaska to strengthen and encourage bush missionaries and pastors’ families. MarJean has published “Courage For Bush Ministry Women” for over ten years. She now continues to encourage others to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts (see Acts 11:23) through writing, poetry, and illustrations from Spokane, WA. She is a mother of three sons and a daughter and delights in her 17 grandchildren.