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GET UP, GET UP, GET UP!
It’s easy to get discouraged and want to quit when you are tired and worn out. My husband and I were just about to finish a successful seventy-mile ride when it started to rain, making the road slick. As I was entering the parking lot, a mere 100 yards from my car, I turned too quickly, and my bike and I both went down hard. The pain, frustration, and fatigue kept me down, and I just lay there—in the middle of the parking lot, still clipped into my bike pedals, not wanting to move.
My husband stood over me and asked, “Are you going to get up?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “Let me think about it for a second.” As I lay there, I thought that maybe I needed to find a new hobby; maybe this just wasn’t my thing. I mean, how many times did I have to fall before I realized this? Maybe God wanted be to be a spectator as opposed to a participant.
It’s easy to spiral downward into stinking thinking after a failure.
Since I was focused on my pain, I momentarily forgot that falling down doesn’t make someone a failure; staying down does. I also needed to realize that failure is a wonderful teacher as long as you learn from it! It is all about perspective. When you understand that failure is the first ingredient for success, you won’t get discouraged. The only thing keeping us from our goals and desires is believing the lie that we can’t get up, that we can’t improve, and that we don’t have what it takes.
What it takes is persistence and a steadfast attitude that believes our adequacy and our strength come from God. I believe persistence is more important than talent, education, and physical ability because it is the barometer of how much you want something and how many times you are willing to get up and try again until you succeed. It has been said that, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” Persistence is hard, but the rewards are more than worth it!
PAUSE and REFLECT
Falling down hurts, but staying down hurts worse. Who can you encourage today to get up and keep moving?
Scripture
About this Plan
Life can feel like a race with twists, turns, uphill climbs, downward descents, and long stretches of highway. Let this devotional encourage and inspire you to press on to know Him more as you run the race of life God created uniquely for you.
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