Persistence Is Not a Cliche

Sometimes it's hard to believe God's will entails where we are in our lives when the going gets tough--and it stays tough--with hardships, injustices, and disappointments.  This is training ground. God allows us heartbreaks and disappointments, not to test us because we're "not good enough" or "haven't arrived yet," but to teach persistence.

For me, it's been a long string of professional disappointments coupled with depression. Cliche as it sounds, I ask God why this is happening to me. Why does God allow mistreatment to continue when God says he will deliver us and give us favor?  He never promised us perfection or a daily goldmine, but he did promise to never leave us, and to bless us with good things in life.  I'm learning persistence to move up and ahead in my job. I've applied for the same position five times, and until something opens up, I'm going to keep trying.  I would have hung my head and given up three tries ago, and then ended up trying again anyway, because I didn't have anywhere else to go at the time. But now I'm trying to learn to express disappointment constructively and find a course of action to move forward, trusting in God.  Trusting in God isn't just trusting him to be there every day, but also trusting that our actual concrete future is in God's sovereign hands.  Also, I'm learning persistence against depression.  I can't make all the feelings go away, but I don't give in to them as my "destiny" or "future," and I'm researching various causes of depression-physical, mental, and spiritual, until I get some answers.  I'm working on my attitude. Somewhere along the way, many people become conditioned with negativity, and overcoming it becomes something like giving up an addiction. It takes systematic day to day correction of negative thoughts to chip away at what feels like a mountain, but I know God completes our unfinished work through his undeserved grace.  Additionally, I'm learning persistence against the discouragement and criticism of others, sometimes well meaning, when they can't see the progress I'm making in minuscule increments. Moreover, tiny steps add up over time.

God causes all things to work together for good for those that love Him. I don't believe everyone who is dealing with difficulties is where they are because of anything they did wrong or because of any shortcoming they have. Often, we find ourselves exactly where we are because this is where we need to be on God's paths for our lives. And God doesn't mean for our lives to be gloom, doom, struggle, disappointment, pain and loneliness.  He has much more planned for us than that. This place I'm at isn't God's ultimate will for my life.  He has a plan for us. Every situation in our lives is a temporary port, and ships do come in; then we sail to the next destination from glory to glory.

As we learn persistence, circumstances can get better: "This book of the law will not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night . . . " In other words, we will be persistent, persistent, persistent in working on our attitudes"that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it . . ." I think this mean to pay attention to what's happening around us in our lives, in our minds, and in our emotions to adjust to changing situations, variables, and contexts and remain consistent and persistent in our attitudes, faith, relationships, callings, and ourselves, even if we progress in "minuscule quantities." Those do add up, more than we know: "For then, you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success" (Joshua 1:8).  The words speak for themselves in context with other scriptures and proverbial wisdom.

These words reinforce the fact that in being persistent, it is not God's will for us to struggle for the rest of our lives. God has plans for our lives we can't imagine, and I believe this means all areas of our lives: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you."