You just got to love the widow in the gospel. Maybe you know someone just like her. I hope so. She has a legal dispute and she knows she’s right just waiting on the judge to rule in he favor. So she persists. She keeps showing up. She keeps knocking at the door until her knuckles are bleeding, pleading with the judge to vindicate me. The persistent widow we don’t even know her name.
That’s all we remember her for persistence. And her persistence pays off for eventually the judge says she’s going to wear him out with her continual coming and knocking and pleading and begging—"all right lady you win!"
Jesus says how much more will God vindicate those of us who persistently cry to Him day and night.
Persist now there’s a word. In spite of opposition, we endure, we tenaciously persist.
When my next door neighbor Maggie was brought to the rehab center, they told her that she was 100% dependent and that she would have to sell her home and live permanently in the assisted living facility..
However, when I asked Maggie what she wanted, she shouted back, “she wants to die in her home.”
Well that means Maggie you would have to put more effort into your rehab and physical therapy and quick complaining about the exercises.
Two weeks ago at a a family meeting, the nurses said she was still 100% dependent and she most likely plateau. I told them she’s motivated to come home and she needs to persevere on regaining her strength and stability.
Then last Friday, I get a call from the social worker who shared: “Maggie is 100% independent and most likely she return home in a couple of weeks with minimal services.
“How did that happen?” She said "you’re the boss, it was probably something you said to her that motivated her to improve her mood and get moving again.”
I don’t take the credit, rather I am delighted to hear that Medicaid will not be taking her home and that with support she will eventually be coming home.
That’s the meaning of persistence.
Getting out of bed when you’d rather sleep in and be left alone. Grab that walker, push those legs, take one step at a time, lift those ankles. Daily physical therapy from 9 in the morning until 12 noon. 3 hours a day for the past 2 months. Now she walks without a wobble, steady as she goes, no learning backwards, moves from bed to chair to bathroom without any fear of falling. "You go for it girl!"
Persist. It’s such a great word.
It applies to every area of your life. Even when you’re discouraged, don’t let discouragement possess you.
Discouragement is a devil that needs to be driven from our lives with inspiration. Find inspiration, drink from those waters each day. Like a cranky old retired priest telling you that you can do better, quit whining even when you don’t feel like it. Sure, you’ll get discouraged, just don’t stay discouraged.
Reset if you need to, take a break by all means but then press on. God has something in mind for your life, a reason He has made you, so that you might do it.
It may be small, it may be large, but it’s yours. Don’t leave your part undone. If you don’t do your part it goes undone.
Persevere. Persist. When people criticize you. Persist. When your inner critic tries to make you feel like you’re unworthy. You may be able to do very little that’s okay.
Persist in doing the little thing that you can do. There’s great satisfaction in persistence. Nothing significant in life can be accomplished without it.
In other words, press on…
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who easily get discouraged, don’t let them stop them doing the little things today that will make a big difference in the future. With the strength of the Lord, press on…
