The Proverbs 31 Ministries Podcast

Meredith Brock: Hi, friends. Thanks for joining in to the Proverbs 31 Ministries Podcast, where we share biblical truth for any girl in any season. I'm your host, Meredith Brock, and I am here today with my co host, Kaley Olson.

Kaley Olson: Well, hey, Meredith. We just wrapped up a really, really incredible teaching with our friend, Wendy Blight.

And if you are, familiar with the podcast and have been around with us for a while, you know Wendy, always brings a really great word. And today, she talks about endurance, but the hope we have through seasons of endurance because God is with us. And so it's a great teaching full of, like, you know, personal mentions of the really, really hard things that she's been through, but so many good biblical principles that I think will apply to whatever seasons of endurance you are being asked to walk through right now. And so, I'm excited for you guys to listen. Absolutely.

And I would encourage you, go get yourself a notebook and a pen because you're gonna want to write it down. Part of today's teaching includes Wendy praying over us. So please stay tuned to the end because it truly is the sweetest way to wrap up today's episode, and I think it's really gonna bless you. Also, scroll below to the links in the show notes for next steps on all the things we share today, like a totally free resource called, “How to Study the Bible.”

So, alright, friends. Let's dive in to today's episode.

We are excited to welcome our friend Wendy Blight to the show today. Hi, Wendy.

Wendy Blight: Hello. I'm so happy to be here.

Kaley Olson: We always love it, Wendy, whenever you're here on the podcast, because you have such a unique way of not only encouraging us and meeting us where we are and what we're facing, but doing so in a way that's backed up by Scripture. And I just, I love getting to hear from you. And so today, Wendy is on the show to share a message with us about seasons of endurance. So Wendy, why don't you go ahead and take it away?

Wendy Blight: Okay. Kaley, I can remember walking through an extremely difficult time in my life, and it was filled with so many what ifs. Well meaning people sent me this verse many times. Consider it great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

But at that time, those weren't the words I wanted to hear, because I didn't know much about the Bible, and I certainly didn't wanna hear that I should be joyful for what I was walking through at that time. It was a a few days after my college graduation, I walked into my apartment to find an armed masked man hiding at the top of my stairs. And that attack, and what happened to me that day locked me in a prison of fear that held me captive for nearly a decade. And I harbored a lot of anger toward God, wondering why he allowed this to happen. And asking those questions, you know, we ask when bad things happen.

Did God cause this tragedy in my life to get my attention? Was it the only way he could take me from here to there in the faith he was building in me? Or was I not even on his radar? Because I really didn't matter. You know?

And over time, because other Christians in my life, I came to learn that James is not the only place that we find verses about God allowing us to suffer. So to prepare for this, I did a short search, and I counted 15 in just a really short search. And as humans, I think we're very quick, I was one of them, to judge the quality of our lives and the reliability of God based on the individual events that happen in our life, rather than considering the eventual good work that God is working through those events, especially the really hard ones. And for me, it feels like each encounter with some suffering brings a theological crisis of sorts. And we have four choices.

We can blame God and become bitter, which is what hardens our heart and moves us further away from God. We can wave the white flag. Right? We can give up. And that choice usually brings despair, depression, and isolation from people and even from God.

We can grit our teeth. We can suffer through it, and we do all of that in our own strength. Right? But it drains every ounce of who we are and we will eventually collapse physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Or we can turn to God, invite him in, and ask, Okay God, what do you want to do in my life through this suffering?

And the last choice is the hardest, but it's biblical. To pray for a thankful heart in the midst of suffering, Because his word tells us, and we can know, that at the end of that suffering, we gain a great reward. And he tells us that reward is to be mature and complete in our faith, not lacking anything. And what I think I think of is when we seek to strip our stories of the struggles we're walking through, we risk losing the very power and purpose behind the work God is seeking to do in our lives. And it took me years to understand the why behind what I'm sharing with you today.

And I confess, even today, I don't it's not like I welcome, you know, suffering and and be the call to endure. Especially when I'm praying for people I love. But with each trial, this is what I've discovered and what I wanna talk about is I learned to trust God more in them because I've experienced his faithfulness, and I've gained a deeper connection with God as the result of them. And I've experienced that James, those words, I've experienced maturing and transforming of my faith in ways I now truly believe I could not have received any other way. And, scripture is clear.

Many places, trials will come, we should expect them, but he didn't leave us there. They come, they have a purpose, and God gives us instructions on how to walk through them. So he's done everything he can. Right? So to understand it better, let's just go back to the verse and do a little Greek word study.

Consider it great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials. Okay. That Greek word for trial is pyrosmos, specifically as used here. This is hard. It means sent by God and serving to test or prove one's faith, holiness, and character.

But it's also similar to a Greek word used when a baby bird tests its wings by trying to leave the nest. And each attempt, their little wings grow stronger, and I think that's so beautiful. So God's telling us here that faith endures. So if we know that he's telling us our faith is going to endure, then my question was, okay, God, if this is it, this is what I have to do, then how am I gonna endure well? And so first it requires trusting in God's faithfulness.

That's his character. So how do we trust God is faithful? Right? Seeking God's wisdom for our circumstances. But how do we find that?

There's really only one place, and that's in His Word. And so when we seek God's wisdom in His Word, that wisdom and that Word then become the lens through which we can now walk through the rest of that suffering. That we can wrestle through it. That can we we can reason through it. That we'll finally come to understand it.

Second, God calls us to be alert to our enemy. Right? Who Jesus says our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion. And what I have learned is, he knows our weaknesses and he will strategically insert himself into our trials. How?

Schemes, lies, leading us to believe God isn't trustworthy, isn't faithful, doesn't want our best. So we're gonna look again. Once again, the most effective way to defeat that enemy is through knowing God's word and having his wisdom hidden in our heart. And the whole reason we do that is to speak truth right back to him when he spews those lies. And to do that, we have to know God's character and his promises and his unconditional love.

So let's go back to the verse. Consider pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds. Now I'm gonna take you to context because we all know here at Proverbs, this is our favorite thing to do. Right? We need to give you context.

Who was the audience that was being written to? And they were Jewish Christians scattered throughout the Roman Kingdom, suffering religious persecution, being forced scattered throughout the Roman Kingdom, suffering religious persecution, being forced from their homes. And James wanted to encourage them to continue growing in their faith in the midst of that. And so he chooses very specific words. He didn't say feel joy, which is kinda what I thought initially, when I got this verse from all these well meaning people.

It's instead it's to consider to count it all joy. And that word in Greek means to suppose or to think. God's not asking us to celebrate the suffering or dance for joy in it. He's inviting us to reflect on where he has us and seek him first in it. It's like inviting Him in to say, how you're allowing this.

How can you help me walk through it? And something I personally learned during this journey is, for me, after what happened to me, I just wanted to know God saw me. And that he heard about me, and he cared about me, and he knew what happened to me. And so, someone taught me to pray for glimpses of God in the midst of my suffering. Glimpses of his presence in the midst of my pain.

And what I found, y'all, is that in those glimpses, that's where I found a lot of that joy. Because when I was actively seeking and looking for good thing the good things of God, I was doing it at a time when nothing seemed good, felt good, and God certainly didn't seem or feel good. And I am not saying this was easy. It took me, as I said, nearly a decade to court come out that other side. But here's what we gain.

We gain a closer relationship, and I wanna say with our Abba Father, because that's what I came to learn Him as. A willingness to trust God the next time because we experienced His faithfulness the the last time. A stronger, more enduring faith, which which is what James is telling us, and a deeper understanding of God's character. And as his sovereignty, which I had no idea what it was, but it at that time, but someone told me, it's just that he controls all these events that happen in our lives. And so when they come and that theological crisis, you can feel it just hitting, the first step should always be to evaluate our suffering in light of his wisdom and his word.

And he's not asking us to do anything he didn't ask Jesus to do. In Hebrews twelve two, we read Jesus endured the cross. Why? Because of the joy set before him. That's the lens through which Jesus looked at his suffering.

He knew he would be resurrected. He knew he would ascend to heaven and sit at the right hand of God, and he knew one day he would return to get his bride. That was the joy set before him. And then James goes on to say the suffering produces something good. It produces endurance, and then that increases our character.

Well, endurance here is from the Greek word hupomone, and it means abiding under. It means steadfastness in the face of difficulties. So it's not passive. It's a courageous, persevering, enduring through something to reach what's promised on the other side. And and Paul wrote the same thing in Romans five three and four.

Rejoice in your sufferings because we know suffering produces endurance, endurance character, and character hope. Elsewhere in the Bible, God spent decades teaching endurance to Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David before he ever worked through them. Right? He's Jesus spent three years training his disciples before he sent them out into all the earth, but they had to walk through many trials and experience testings. And then my favorite, because I think Job is the most relatable that we can identify with, because he didn't bear up well in his sufferings at first.

He cursed the day he was born. He got frustrated with God on many occasions, and he expressed it out loud. But through it all, he kept a dialogue going with God. And that's what matters. Job held fast to his faith, and I wanna say, how did he do this?

Because if we look, he knew what was true about God. In Job 23:8, 8-10, and he's talking about God here. He says, if I go to the East, he is not there. If I go to the West, he is not there. If I do not find to if I go to the West, I do not find him.

When he is at the at work in the North, I do not see him. When he turns to the South, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way I take. Even though I don't see him, feel him, he's not around me, he knows the way I take.

And then look where he goes. He goes, I will come forth, he says, he has tested me. I will come forth as gold. My feet have followed closely his steps. I have kept his way without turning aside.

I have not departed from the commands of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. Those verses speak once again. Right? Going back.

Wisdom and word. God's wisdom and his word. That's that's that's how we're to process our suffering through the lens of his wisdom and word. And then in that, he's refining us through that suffering. That endurance is building our character.

That suffering and enduring is shaping and mold us molding us to be the woman God's creating us to be. And let's look at Paul again in second Corinthians twelve nine. He pleaded with God to take that thorn from his side, and God said no. Instead, he comforted him and said, my grace is sufficient. And if we look up what is grace, it's God's provision for our every need when we need it.

And sufficient, as used here in the Greek, is to be possessed of sufficient strength to be strong enough for a thing. That's so important. With God, his grace is always enough to sustain us. It never runs dry. He is the strength of our heart and our portion forever, Psalm 73:26 says.

And then, not only does he say my grace is sufficient, he said my power is made perfect in weakness. It's in our times of greatest weakness, God pours out his spirit of his power upon us. So He chose, God chose to place His power in us through the spirit and then created us in such a way that power works in us most effectively when we're at our weakest. When we're at our weakest. And we cry out.

We cry out for God to take away that which burdens us, that which we're fearful of, that which we want to go away, but sometimes, He just won't. Because He has a transformational work to do. And the only way he can do his work, the only way he can bring the blessing is through the pain. And that's hard, but through his amazing grace, our suffering works for us and not against us. I wanna say that again.

Through his amazing grace, our suffering works for us and not against us. And let's go back to the verse we opened with. James says, as our suffering results in a mature and complete character. And that mature is finished, wanting nothing, necessary to completeness perfect. And the Greek word complete means complete in every part, perfectly sound, and it speaks of the health and wholeness of our whole body, physically and spiritually.

So when we face our times of suffering with faith, when we keep our eyes fixed on God's truth and promises, on his words and his wisdom, in the midst of them, we will be able to endure because each step of courageous endurance builds on the next, leading us to be mature and complete. And those early years when I felt locked in my prison of fear and felt unseen and unheard, It was hard. But as time passed and I did what my really close friends and the people God put in my life did and just go be in the Bible and expose my heart to his love and his character and his promises, he made himself known in the words on the pages of scripture. And he felt closer and closer with each time.

And as I sought him and watched for him and I witnessed and experienced those glimpses of joy, they came more and more frequently. And I wanna close today with one of the most beautiful glimpses of his glory, and it came through Psalm 41 through three, which is one of my now most treasured verses. It says, I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and he heard my cry. He lifted me out of a slimy pit, out of the mud and the mire, and he set my feet upon a rock, and he gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to my God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him. And that last sentence stood out to me. Many will see and fear and put their trust in him. And until the day I set my eyes on this passage, I didn't fully know the why behind my attack that day.

And, the true meaning of consider it pure joy and the purposes behind enduring. And it's now become one of my greatest glimpses of God's presence because of the timing in which he brought it. He brought it to me the very day I was to share my story at a women's event to over 2,000 women. I had never shared it anywhere except in a small group Bible study because it was too hard.

And during those years of desperately seeking Him, praying and enduring, God was forging in me a deeper understanding of his word in a more intimate and personal relationship. And every one of those led to the call. It led to why I'm sitting here. My call as an author and a Bible teacher, and what I describe it as is a backdrop to the ministry now God's now given me. And so Kales, that's why I'm sitting here today.

You and our friends listening are the many. The many who will see and fear and put their trust in him, and I couldn't be more grateful.

Kaley Olson: I I feel like whenever we get glimpses into, like, a completed work, it's really a gift. You know, like, we God doesn't always allow that. Think about it.

Like, there's a lot of suffering that happens, that there's death that happens, that people never get to see, kind of like a completed picture. And I know that when we go through things, it's never one trial, it's trials, like plural. There's all the things, you know, and I think there's there's probably things in your life, Wendy, that aren't complete, and you're still asking the co op, asking why. But I think all of us could probably give a a testament to some things that we have kind of come full circle in, and I think that that's a way that God shows us his faithfulness and as a reminder to, like, trust him in that. But Wendy, I have a question.

In the in the verse in James, that it ends in, then you will be mature and complete, lacking nothing. I think it's very interesting because, the question that I have is, like, when is that? Are we not, like, when is the deadline? Is it is it death?

Is it our eternal?

Wendy Blight: I would say there are two. And this is not a theological Joel Muddamalle answer, but this is the ultimate completion, yes is when we get to heaven, and it's all complete. But I also think we have mature and complete beautiful bows that are put on the the the episodes we're talking about. And it's for us to deepen our faith, but it's also for moments like this because there's someone listening or there's someone in our in our Bible study or someone, I worked at a law I was a lawyer, and I can remember was around a lot of non believers, and and so when they can get glimpses of times where someone has a faith in a God that they don't believe in and hear those sort of glimpses that are sort of glory and miracles and things, those make a difference. And those are, I think, the maturing completes that put a little bow around the struggles that we've walked through God with, and he's healed.

Meredith Brock: He's of that purpose. So it doesn't just feel meaningless.

As you were talking, Wendy, I was reflecting on some of those seasons for myself of where I think when you're in those seasons of suffering, one of the thoughts that I struggle with the most, and I can imagine some of our listeners do too, is is this my new reality? Like, is this this is my life forever now? Like, this is what it's gonna look like.

These feelings are true and never gonna go away. And I've had to remind myself that that's not true, you know, based on God's word, but also based on, I know this sounds very basic, but based on our biology, our feelings change. You know? And so the intensity of those moments where it feels like this is never gonna end. This is this is what life is gonna look like forever.

I just wanna say to my sister on the other end of this, it will change. Like, this season will come to an end. Those feelings will change, and so hang on. But even as I was listening to you teach, one of the promises of that verse, yes, Kaley, to your point is like you will become mature and complete.

Right? But also one of the promises is that it will develop in you endurance. And I remember this is, you know, and probably embarrassing to admit, but I'm hoping remembered thinking, well, why would I want endurance? That doesn't sound awesome.

Like, what I want is fun. I want laughter and I want good feelings. You know, so unpack a little bit for maybe the girl who is wrestling with that, like, you know what?

I don't want to I don't want to develop endurance. What I want is to get out of this situation. I want it to be over.

What is so appealing about endurance? What is that thing? Unpack that for me.

Wendy Blight: Okay. So, I really would like to speak to that that person listening because you had me here before about a battle with anxiety that I walked through. And, I really did feel that way, that it would never end. And, the way I look at endurance was, I didn't like endurance, I didn't want to endure, and I had to literally make myself every day, every single day, go upstairs to my bed about 09:00 at night and spend time with God in his word every day. It was a discipline. It wasn't fun.

I didn't want to. I was very anxious doing all of that. But as I did that, as I was faithful, and and like if I skipped a day, there's grace. Do you know? But what you get my point is, when your mind is being overtaken by things that the enemy has put in it, that God doesn't want there that are not good for you, it's hard work.

But in the midst of the meeting with God, in his word, in the midst of counseling, if that is something, I also went to counseling for my anxiety. I didn't the first time around with my fear. But, going through all of that, it is growth, and it is good, and it's hard to think of it that way, because it doesn't feel good at the time, but I promise you. And even now, I'm on the other side of that anxiety journey.

I get I gained so many wonderful verses, and my friend and I got together. We've memorized over 60 verses together. Those are the things that you need to find to look forward to, to know that enduring isn't fun, but it builds the strongest faith, and it keeps building and building it. But you also are filled with more and more of the manna that God created us to be healthy with. His word is the bread of life.

It is manna to our body. It's health to our bones, Proverbs tells us. So the more we can have of that, the healthier we will be. Does it mean I don't ever have anxious thoughts? Absolutely not.

It doesn't. But it means the minute they come, I know where to go and I know I endured this before, it's gonna take me a lot less time this time.

Meredith Brock: That's right. What I love what you just said at the end, because I think that's the thing that I want our listener to hear is, you want endurance in your life, the promise of this suffering creating endurance in your life will make the next time you face it, it goes by faster.

You're a woman who is steady. Who can remember what I said just a few minutes ago, guys those emotions, they could biology it comes and goes, quite literally. It could be

Wendy Blight: And the older you get, the more. Or if you're pregnant. Or –

Meredith Brock: Right. I mean it's just biology. Those emotions come and go. And do you want to be whipped around by those emotions? No. No, you wanna have endurance.

You wanna have steadfastness. And the only way to develop that is through these seasons where you have to buckle down and hold on to God's word above everything else, because in you he's developing that steadfastness. You can experience that high high, that belly laughter that just won't stop in one moment and the heartbreak in the next, but you're that same steady woman if you have developed endurance in your life. And so I think for me when I faced these seasons, the promise of that sometimes felt like I don't really want that. But as I've gotten through those seasons, I've seen what it has done in me, and I can look back at the younger Meredith who was tossed and turned by emotions, and who was crippled by a lot of those and and made poor decisions in my emotional moments.

And thankfully, the Holy Spirit's work in me has enabled me to face those moments a little bit better now and hopefully even better as I get older and develop that endurance. So I just wanted to encourage our listeners and myself even in this moment that endurance is good. Steadfastness is the goal.

You wanna be steady. You want -- picture that woman who can stand in the middle of a storm and be okay. You want to be her.

Kaley Olson: Yeah. But the difference in the way that the world handles endurance, it is all it's up to you.

Meredith Brock: Muscle.

Kaley Olson: You stand through it. That's right.

You do this. And I think that that even in counseling, if you are if you don't have Jesus, you can go to the best counselor in the world. That's right. And she can give you all the tools to work your way through it, manifest your whatever new age like word you wanna say. They can give you that.

But at the end, once you stop doing what they say, you will grow right back to where you are. And I think that what the gift in Wendy's teaching was all about, oh, my notes are on this page, like grace, God's grace, God's sufficiency, God's power with us in it, and the line that you said about going back to your room and, like, working through it and fighting through it. Like, if we put in the work and God is with us in it, then that's where the growth happens. But as long as we're fighting through on our own

Wendy Blight: And the other that God's power is made perfect in our weakness.

Meredith Brock: Right. Yeah. That's what I was gonna say, is that it's not about you and your and your ability to white knuckle through something. It's about your ability to fall to your knees And say, I am unable. I can't.

And so, Jesus, I need you too. You know? So so good. I hope this is ministering to the people on the other side, just like it is to me. It is such a good teaching.

And Wendy, you're gonna close us in prayer today. But before we do that, hang tight. Meredith is gonna share a few announcements with us. So go ahead.

Meredith Brock: Yeah. Absolutely. If you're listening to this in real time, like as in May 2025, then I just wanna encourage you to sign up for the Circle 31 Book Club and read The Hidden Prince with us starting June 1. Joining Circle 31 is absolutely free. Just go to the link in our show notes, sign up, and then purchase your copy of The Hidden Prince, which is a really cool book, one we've never done before.

Kaley Olson: Yeah. And so we had Wendy on the show today because she was part of helping, process through that book. And a lot of the themes of what she talked about today are going to be, that read the book, which is great. So I think it'll be a really fun summer read for all of us. Also, I don't know about y'all, but when Wendy comes on the show, I'm always captivated by how she's able to apply scriptural truth to what she shares.

You couldn't see this, but when Wendy was quoting Bible verses, she wasn't looking at her notes. She just was, you know, saying them from memory. And that's not something that happened overnight for you, Wendy. It took hard work, dedication, and time. And so if you're wanting to better understand scripture, how to apply it to your life, download our free resource called, “How to Study the Bible” in the show notes below.

Okay, Wendy. We're going to let you close us in prayer, so let's wrap up.

Wendy Blight: Okay. And I really felt like I was praying this for someone. So, Lord, my friend feels weary and feels like this suffering, praying, begging for relief will never end.

She's tired of working in her own strength to escape this pain, hardship, and suffering. Help her to stop trying to outrun her suffering and her pain, Lord. Help her through the power of your Holy Spirit to run this race with endurance, knowing you've gone before her and are walking with her, and you will bring her through victoriously on the other side. Show her those glimpses of you along the way, and to seek and consider the joy found in those sweet glimpses of your presence and glory. God, remind her that nothing in this world can separate her from your steadfast love.

So as she waits on you, give her the perfect measure of your love, your strength to endure and persevere through. And thank you that your love for her never ends. And most of all, thank you for the ultimate crown of joy that awaits her forever in your kingdom. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Meredith Brock: Amen. Well, that's all for today, friends. At Proverbs 31 Ministries, we believe when you know the truth and live the truth, it changes everything.