The only way to get through life with grace is to mount up over the challenges, seeking to live a focused life that fills us a little every day, with a heart that is valiant and unwilling to give in to the woes that tempt us. We have choices to make, a life to tame, but living in the joy of God is possible.

The best part of learning to endure through difficult seasons is the legacy I now see in the lives of my four children. They watched our responses of keeping growing, keeping faithful, growing stronger, and becoming wiser over many years. Now they are standing on our shoulders because our attempted faithfulness has gifted them with wisdom and courage to keep pushing for excellence in their own lives.

Read more about this in Help I’m Drowning.