Live to Fight Another Day

Currently my wife and I are taking a class to prepare for the birth of our baby girl. Tonight the instructor was talking about transition between first and second stage labor and she said that there comes a time when almost all mothers ask for the epidural.  She went on to say that a majority of the time it is not because the mother doesn't feel like she can handle one more contraction... It's because she doesn't feel like she can handle two more hours of contractions. The key is to take each contraction one-at-a-time.

 

I feel like the same principle might be applied to our fight against sin and for self control. We must conquere one temptation at a time, Celebrate each victory and only when one temptation is over should we look to conquere the next.

 
Discipline in most areas is never an easy thing and unfortunately for us the end of our struggle always seems to be way off in the distance.  Life is rarely quick and painless and it's difficult for most of us to fathom a forseeable end to our current struggle.  I've always been comforted by 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."
 
God has our back.  He's right there in the delivery room of life when we feel like we can't fight it off any more, feeding us ice chips, holding our hand while we squeeze with everything we've got, and reminding us that we CAN do it.  He's our help, our encouragement, our hope and our strength.  He will never leave us.  Be encouraged today that while you may not feel up to fighting with no end in site, you can fight today and with God's help you will life to fight another day.