When Times Get Tough and You’re Not Sure How to Keep Going, Remember This
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At the beginning of 2020, I felt God give me the word “persistence.” I knew He was calling me to hold on to His promises in spite of difficult circumstances, so I gathered my strength and determined to persist to the best of my ability.
When the end of the year rolled around, I contemplated what persistence had looked like for me over the previous months. As I did, I realized a truth that may seem obvious, but I had never thought much about before: Persistence isn’t pretty.
While I had been faithful to push forward despite my situation, I’d also had many messy moments of crying and questioning. I’m tempted to feel embarrassed by my less-than-pristine performance as a persistent woman—ideally, I would like to coast through my problems coolly and calmly. But that’s not what persistence is actually about. Persistence is about being willing to expend blood, sweat, and, yes, tears, to pursue the thing that God is asking you to pursue.
The good news is, even though persistence isn’t pretty, it does pay off. In Galatians, the apostle Paul said: “Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (Galatians 6:9, NLT).
What good thing is God calling you to persist in this season? Maybe, like me, one of the good things He’s asking is for you to simply keep believing His promises. Maybe He’s prompting you to keep showing love to a difficult colleague. Or perhaps He’s nudging you to apply for your dream job one more time.
No matter what you’re facing, take a deep breath, take courage, and press ahead. On the other side of your hardship is harvest of blessings!
As always, you are in my thoughts and prayers, and I’d love to hear from you! You can contact me here!
In purpose and faith,
This devotion was originally published by The Joyful Life.
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