One of our four root values at Big Oak Ranch is perseverance. This mission doesn’t function without faithful, persevering individuals. And family, in its intended design, doesn’t function without them either.
In this ministry, in our families, and throughout this year, joy will be present, heartache will come, weariness will attempt to take over, motivation will be bolstered, and forgiveness will be needed. Situations and emotions will come and go, but let’s choose to persevere. The marathon of perseverance is best run by removing the temptation of quitting, therefore let’s refrain from wishing away the season we are in and, instead, remain grateful and emboldened by faith.
Perseverance is woven throughout the fabric of our ministry through the daily work, love and commitment alive within our homes. Even when our children graduate high school and leave our physical homes, our promise to stick with them remains. In fact, they step into a continuation of it through ASCEND – the spiritual, professional and personal life preparation training for our 18-22-year-olds. During a discussion with one of our Ascendants, he shared something that had been on his heart. He said, “We all know the story of Noah, but I went back and I read it again, and it really did something for me. Can you imagine how fearful Noah was? Can you imagine that while he was building day-in, day-out he had to have fantasized about the day it was never going to rain? Don’t you know he was tired? I’m kind of like Noah. I’m doing the things that nobody thought I could.”
Despite tremendous hardship, this young man was choosing to keep his eyes on the goal – a cycle broken with him – and persevere toward it despite emotions or adversity. Noah believed and he accepted the task before him, knowing quitting wasn’t an option. It takes faith to accept what God is asking of you with an obedient yes, and it takes even greater faith to persevere in that obedience until the end.
May we take this spirit of perseverance into 2022 and let it transform our faith, our families and the impact we have on the world around us.
