In some of the world’s greatest success stories, you will find chapters of failure and discouragement. Dr Seuss’s first children’s book was turned down by twenty-seven different publishers. The twenty-eighth publisher sold six hundred million copies, and Dr Seuss’s perseverance resulted in helping millions of children learn to read. In their first year of business, the Coca-Cola company usually sold only nine servings of its drink a day. But they persevered, and today they are the leading soft drink seller in the world. Henry Ford went bankrupt twice in his initial three years in the car industry. But he persevered, and today Ford is the second-largest American-based motor company and the fifth biggest worldwide. In 1905 the University of Bern in Switzerland rejected a PhD dissertation by a student named Albert Einstein, describing it as ‘irrelevant and fanciful’. Was he disappointed? Of course – wouldn’t you be? Did he give up? No, he kept on writing. And consider this: as a redeemed child of God, you have a plus factor; God is on your side. ‘God is for me’ (Psalm 56:9 NKJV). That changes the equation and tilts the odds in your favour. Paul writes: ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us’ (Romans 8:35, 37 NKJV). With God, despite whatever you’re facing, it’s always too early to give up. Hold on because His grace and strength are always on their way.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.