Learning To Endure

“A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better.” - Mark 5:25-26 
 
 
Mark 5:25-34 tells the story of a woman who had suffered for 12 years. Here was a woman who had suffered from constant bleeding; and although she had seen many doctors, none of them were able to help her. As the passage eventually reveals, by touching Jesus, the woman was instantly healed. This woman understood that she couldn’t wait. She had to seize here opportunity to just the hem of Jesus’ garment NOW in order to receive her healing.  
 
But that time did not come before many years of suffering. Here was a woman who had suffered for TWELVE YEARS. As verse 26 says, “She had suffered a great deal…” She had to endure that pain for so long. Endurance is the capacity to go through something and not let it consume you.  
 
What inspires me and what I hope inspires you about this woman is that she did not allow her pain or her disappointment to get the better of her. I calculated it. 12 years; that’s 144 months, 624 weeks, 4,383 days, and over 105,000 hours.  
 
And after all that, she did not fall apart when the thing she wanted did not work out the way she desired. The Bible says she had suffered many things by many doctors and yet, rather than her condition getting better, it got worse. 
 
Now, the story ends well, but that wasn’t before she endured much. Can you say the same? So many of us want a great ending, but are we willing to endure first? This woman was. Sometimes, to get where you want to go, you must first go through the fire to be refined. 
 
But as we stated yesterday, the sacrifice is worth it! Learn to endure now, so you can be blessed later!