Discouraged Today

I've actually been discouraged many days over the past month. We have been living with Pete's parents for almost 4 months now. When we moved it, we said that it might be as long as 6 months since our goal move timeframe was August. In reality though I thought it would only be 2 months. At the most 3 months. Here we are at 4 months which means it will be at least 5 months before we make the move. It will take my Man at least one month to secure a job, give notice, find an apartment, and then move from the date of his first interview. He has just a few irons in the fire at the moment.

Last fall, I signed up to receive the Purpose Driven Life daily devotionals. I read about 50% of them. The days I do read them, they are very applicable to where I am. I received the following email FOUR times from them over the past week. I hadn't read it until just now. It is from Friday, the 13th. I probably should have read it earlier this week-end but I just didn't feel like it. I'm just getting very discouraged waiting on His perfect timing that I know will happen when it is time. But that is hard to remember at all times. I just wish there was something I could do but the fact is, there is nothing. It is all in HIS hands. Not mine. Which is a very hard place for someone like me to be in. I always have a plan and a timeframe for that to happen. I'm learning a lot through this process. I hope you find something meaningful in this email from Purpose Driven just like I did.

Resisting Discouragement
by Rick Warren

So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Galatians 6:9 (NLT)


*** *** *** ***
There are many things that work to keep us from completing our life-missions. Over the years, I’ve debated whether the worst enemy is procrastination or discouragement. If Satan can’t get us to put off our life missions, then he’ll try to get us to quit altogether. The apostle Paul teaches that we need to resist discouragement: “So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up …” (Galatians 6:9 NLT).

Do you ever get tired of doing what’s right? I think we all do. Sometimes it seems easier to do the wrong thing than the right thing. When we’re discouraged, we become ineffective. When we’re discouraged, we work against our own faith.

When I’m discouraged, I’m saying, “It can’t be done.” That’s the exact opposite of saying, “I know God can do it because he said ….”

Ask yourself these questions:
· How do I handle failure?
· When things don’t go my way, do I get grumpy?
· When things don’t go my way, do I get frustrated?
· When things don’t go my way, do I start complaining?
· Do I finish what I start?
· How would I rate on persistence?

If you’re discouraged, don’t give up without a fight. Nothing worthwhile ever happens without endurance and energy.

When an artist starts to create a sculpture, he has to keep chipping away. He doesn’t hit the chisel with the hammer once, and suddenly all the excess stone falls away revealing a beautiful masterpiece. He keeps hitting it and hitting it, chipping away at the stone.

And that’s true of life, too: Nothing really worthwhile ever comes easy in life. You keep hitting it and going after it, and little-by-little your life becomes a masterpiece of God’s grace.

The fact is, great people are really just ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of determination. Great people don’t know how to quit.