Make Your Day Count

“You’re a nobody! You’ll never make it in life!” “You’re a failure, and you’re not good for anything!” “You can’t beat this situation, so you might as well just quit!”

Has anyone ever spoken words like that to you? Perhaps you’ve even thought them about yourself. We all face times when discouragement and doubt hit us like a ton of bricks.

When that happens, it may be hard for us to see a way out of our troubles. But Richard Roberts and I believe when we’re feeling down and facing defeat, that’s the very time we need to look to God and His promises to us. That’s when we need to encourage ourselves in the Lord (I Samuel 30:6).

Successful people don’t quit

There are countless people who have been told they were never going to amount to anything. Walt Disney had a learning disability that put him so behind in school, his teachers thought it would be best for him to drop out. Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein also struggled as students. Jay Leno was told he wasn’t good-looking enough to be a successful television star. As a young boy, Elvis Presley endured teasing from his classmates because he stuttered.

And have you ever heard of Bette Nesmith Graham? A divorced mother, Bette worked as a secretary to support herself and her son. She made frequent typing errors and needed a good way to fix them so she wouldn’t lose her job. Knowing that artists correct mistakes on canvas by simply painting over them, Bette decided to paint over her typing errors. She pulled out her electric mixer one day and concocted a formula that would cover her mistakes.

It wasn’t long before her friends wanted some of the corrective paint too, so Bette started selling it. Her home business gradually grew into a million-dollar company called Liquid Paper. Eventually, she sold her corporation for $47.5 million.

Just imagine where these people might have ended up if they had focused on their problems or agreed with what others said about them. They might never have achieved anything special. Instead, they kept pursuing their goals, and they all found success.

We can learn many truths from their lives:

• Don’t despise small beginnings.

• What looks like a setback may actually be a stepping stone.

• It doesn’t matter where you start; what matters is where you finish.

• You are not your diagnosis.

• Don’t live out man’s labels.

But perhaps the biggest lesson these people can teach us is that

if we want success in life, we can’t quit when discouragement comes along.

God doesn’t quit!

Quitting is certainly not in the plan of God for us as Christians! It is, however, exactly what our enemy, Satan, wants us to do. He wants us to give up and be defeated. So it shouldn’t surprise us that during difficult times, our enemy is right there to tell us we can’t make it. He wants us to think that we’ve failed for good, and that God can’t help us or use us anymore.

But Satan is a liar! And according to God’s Word, we are a divine work in progress. In Psalm 138:8

NKJV, we’re told, The Lord will perfect that which concerns [you]. No matter what your situation looks like right now, the story’s not over yet! God has promised us that He is perfecting all the things that concern us. Philippians 1:6 NIV tells us we can be confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

The work God is doing in us and in our lives doesn’t stop when we find ourselves facing obstacles or struggling with discouragement. God’s continuing presence in our lives is something we can be confident of. He won’t stop helping us find ways to get on top of our situations. He’s not going to quit on us. And if God doesn’t quit on us, why should we quit on ourselves?

Hang in there for a happy ending

It’s true that not all of us will end up as scientists, inventors, musical stars, and talk show hosts. But we can all have success in what we do. No matter what our current situation may look like, we can find help in God’s Word. And we can trust God to be with us, perfecting the things that concern us and bringing them to completion.

If you are going through a hard time right now, Richard Roberts and I encourage you to focus on God and His promises to you. Remember, He wants you to be the head and not the tail. He wants you to have good success (Joshua 1:8). So keep your eyes on Him, don’t give up, and hang in there for the happy ending He wants the story of your life to have.