Perseverance

How to deal with obstacles

My father was big on positivity. Growing up during the depression, abandoned by his parents and left with his three brothers to fend for themselves, he learned early the need to depend on himself and how things would work out if he only persevered.

Thus, he became a can-do person. If he hated anything it was to hear me say “I can’t.” No matter what the obstacle, his mantra was “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” Surviving the Great Depression and the attack on Pearl Harbor (he was stationed at Hickam Field that fateful Sunday morning), he knew tough times. He also knew that facing tough challenges strengthened a person. To succeed, he believed, one only needed to persevere and search for a way around obstacles.

My folks bought, read, and studied The Power of Positive Thinking when it came out in 1952. Later, I’d often hear my mother listening to Robert Schuller’s broadcast of “The Hour of Power” on the radio. They embraced his Possibility Thinking. It fit with and bolstered their belief in positivity.

My parents passed such thinking on to me. Little wonder then that when I settled down with a family of my own, we often tuned into “The Hour of Power” on TV. I even took The Possibility Thinker’s correspondence course. I remember well some of the lessons and the Possibility Thinker’s Creed:

When faced with a mountain I will not quit. I will keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold mine! With God’s help! ~ Rev Dr Robert H. Schuller

Now that we are getting further along the road of life and in our final quarter, my wife and I often reminisce about trials we’ve been through and how well things have turned out for us despite the many colossal mistakes we made along the way. When I asked my wife what she thought had helped most, without a moment’s hesitation she said, PERSEVERANCE! We had a belief that no matter how dark the clouds, if we just persevered, if we just kept plugging away doing the best we could each day, things would eventually get better, and they did.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:1 “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us” and in Romans 5:4 “endurance produces character.” Endurance is just another word for perseverance. We can trust that if we persevere, all will end well. And, if it hasn’t ended well, it’s not the end. My belief is that even if we die, that is not the end. We fall asleep and wake up in a much better place.

In the Bible, God tells us over and over, 67 times, in fact, “do not be afraid.” But fear is normal when we face the unknown, when we have a big decision to make and don’t know how things will turn out. At times like this, we must trust the process, trust our Guide, and move forward.

If you know in your heart that you are on the right track, persevere! Keep going! Don’t let anything stop you!

But listen to and weigh good advice from trusted people who have experience and knowledge, who can help you make good decisions and overcome obstacles. Do not be afraid to change course a little to avoid or move around obstacles. Don’t be a Titanic. If you do, you’ll end up at the bottom of the proverbial sea.

Seeking and heeding good advice in important decisions can save much floundering about. This can be part of the “striving” in the Creed.

After all, we are social creatures. We need other people. But associating with the right people, those who can and will lift us up and give us a push in the direction we need to go, is of paramount importance.

But even more important, and this usually leads to seeking the help of others, is to seek guidance from God in prayer and through fellowship with other believers.

Look at such phenomenal business successes as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates — they both sought help from others early on. Even Dr. Schuller who founded the Hour of Power ministry and built the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, had help from his wife and many people in the community. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking, visited Dr. Schuller’s church early on and gave a sermon from the concession stand roof top of the drive-in theater where the church met.

From that humble beginning, his church grew to a congregation of many thousands with a TV ministry that spanned the globe and reached millions.

The growth of Dr. Schuller’s ministry provides an example of the kind of perseverance he preached.

When he arrived in California to start a church, he had only an organ and a list of ten possible types of places where he might hold services. Number 10 on the list was a drive-in theater. He exhausted the other 9 possibilities before finally finding a place that he could afford and that was available on Sunday mornings. It enabled him to start a new kind of ministry, an outdoor service where people could come as they are and worship in their cars. He persevered and his perseverance was rewarded.

What challenges are you facing today? Here is how I handle mine:

• Do not be afraid!
• Define the challenge in as much detail as possible.
• Pray about it — seek God’s guidance.
• Seek help — talk to others about it.
• Wait patiently.
• When a course of action is clear, move quickly.
• Don’t look back and try to second guess yourself.
• Move on.

Whatever the challenge you face, consider adopting the Possibility Thinker’s Creed and Persevere.

Happy Reading, Writing, Persevering and Connecting!