Two years ago, as we sat in a hospital room with our son, my wife and I wept, prayed, and worshiped. In the midst of pain and uncertainty, we cried out to God in surrender. We had nothing to control, so we rejoiced in the One who is—and we pleaded for a miracle.

He answered.

Fast forward two weeks. When the sense of control returned, intrusive thoughts crept in, and anxiety rolled through like a 10-wheeler…rejoicing began to feel really, really hard.

Enter: endurance.

Endurance looked like choosing to keep praying when my heart felt numb, showing up for my family when my mind wanted to check out, and opening the Bible when it felt like I was getting nothing out of it. 

Through this endurance, God was forming my character.

Because, as it turns out, the sanctified character we’re all after doesn’t come in a moment. It’s formed in long nights, the discipline of surrender, and the decisions no one else sees.

In the initial moments, rejoicing in hope can come naturally. But after the first wave of suffering (when everyone around you moves on), it can feel mech harder to rejoice. That’s why rejoicing requires us to look forward. To hope. 

Over the next four months, we’re going to walk through the journey of faith: suffering, endurance, character, and finally, hope. 

This is the invitation of Romans 5: not to deny or avoid suffering, but to let God form something in us through it.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” — Romans 5:3–4 (ESV)