Pokémon and their trainers alike invest serious time and energy preparing for the opportunity to become world champions, and that means going through gym battles and entering tournaments that will truly push them to their limits. This isn’t a punishment from their trainer… this is about gaining the level of endurance they will need to succeed in the challenges they will face in these higher-stakes battles. Many Pokémon can enter a single battle and emerge victorious, but it is only by grinding through these challenges together that a Pokémon trainer and their Pokémon develop the strength, fortitude, and reliance on each other that they will need to go the distance.

If I’m being honest, I don’t get very excited about the idea of developing endurance through my daily battles in life. But I’m sure David, Job, and so many others felt the same way… the Bible says that even Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered. These challenges are where we learn to trust the Father, hear His voice, and lean on His strength and direction instead of our own. We don’t “receive” the gift of endurance… we develop it as we grind through the daily “tournaments” of vehicle issues, health battles, financial concerns, and relationship struggles. Let’s change the way we view our obstacles today and see them for what the Lord is using them to do in our lives… gym badge acquired 🙂

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Romans 5:3-4

My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. James 5:10-11

Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Hebrews 5:8

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