I’ll never forget the first time someone spoke to me about character growth. I was home from a short-term mission trip to Ethiopia I took right after my freshman year of college. I planned on using the remaining time in the summer to help out the youth group of my church. The youth pastor and I had finished talking about what my role would be that summer, and then he said, “you know what this time in your life is about, J. Thomas? It’s about growing in character.” I simply nodded in agreement, not knowing what he meant or how to respond. Then after a few moments of thoughtful consideration, I built up the courage to ask him, “Pastor, do you see anything specific in my character that needs to be worked on?”

I believe there is no other story in the Bible that conveys a persevering spirit during a desert season better than the one recorded in Matthew 15:21-28. A Gentile woman came to Jesus begging him to help her. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out.

In the gap of that silence, there comes a message, not from God but from the world. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”