Trials, Faith, and Inheritance

1 Peter 1:3-9

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I've been pretty down lately. A certain set of circumstances related to ministry has worn out my spirit. Quite bluntly, I'm tired. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of running the race. I'm not about to quit. I'm just tired. I've grown up hearing all the church/Sunday school answers so when people use it as encouragement, it honestly doesn't hold a lot of weight. We all know what we should do. Doing those actions is not always the easiest. "Oh just rely on God and everything will be okay." While true, there are times in which I do not know what that looks like.

I recently read a friend's blog (thanks Gracie) and talked about 1 Peter 1. And this I know to be true from this passage.

+I have hope in the resurrection of Christ.
+I have an inheritance that will never spoil or fade as a result of my faith.
+Even though I'm going through trials, these trials are refining my faith.
+This faith and hope combines and yields a joy greater than anything I could have sought for myself.

God is good.