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Key Bible Verse: Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will (Hebrews 10:36). Bonus Reading: James 1:2-4, 12

Pressure can come upon us in relationships with little advance notice. How we respond, as illustrated by two Johnnies, is ultimately a matter of choice.

Johnny One, an engineering student, was the beau of Deborah, a classmate of mine. They married after graduation. Not long after, Deborah was diagnosed with cancer. Caught in life's storms unpracticed, Johnny One divorced her. When asked why, he simply said he couldn't afford the medical costs and couldn't endure the pain. Deborah eventually recovered and went on to a full life. We lost track of Johnny One. I often wonder what else in life this seemingly capable, energetic, and intelligent young man was unprepared to endure.

I met Johnny Two later in life. He had courageously fought rejections, resistance, and failure for his entire career. Virtually a founder of the concept of hospice—widely accepted now but unproven and distrusted in earlier years—his ability to endure had been honed by practice. His wife, Betty, was also diagnosed with cancer. Johnny Two chose to stand firm with Betty, who is now cancer free. Through it all he was a living example of how love endures all things.

—Jeff Jernigan in The Power of a Loving Man

My Response: How prepared am I to grow by taking unexpected pressures in stride?

Thought to Apply: We want smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see—but God likes to go off-road.—Tony Snow (former President Bush's press secretary, battling cancer)

Adapted from The Power of a Loving Man (B& H Publishing, 2006) by permission.

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Thank you, Lord, for receiving me just as I was. But thank you, also, for your insistence on reshaping me for maximum usefulness in your kingdom.

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