Growing in Perseverance—Part 2

 

By Maria Fontaine

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I recently came across a collection of verses and quotes that I had compiled some months ago that I hope will be a blessing to you and give you that extra umph you need to keep persevering till the victory breaks through.

Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what God is telling us is going to happen.—Oswald Chambers

By perseverance the snail reached the Ark.—Charles Spurgeon

Bear in mind, if you are going to amount to anything, that your success does not depend upon the brilliancy and the impetuosity with which you take hold, but upon the everlasting and sanctified bull-doggedness with which you hang on after you have taken hold.—Dr. A. B. Meldrum

The only guarantee for failure is to stop trying.—John C. Maxwell

Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.—Samuel Johnson

A delayed answer to your prayer doesn’t mean God is unconcerned, but rather He has a larger purpose for His timing. Trust Him!—Rick Warren

Perseverance is an essential element in successful praying, as in every other realm of conflict.—E. M. Bounds

No matter how dark and hopeless a situation might seem, never stop praying.—Billy Graham

The faith that relentlessly seeks to follow God also pleases God.—Francis Frangipane

It is always too soon to quit praying, even when praying is the last thing we seem able to do.—Harold Lindsell

Persistence in prayer doesn’t change God. It shapes us for the answer.—Bill Johnson

Work as if everything depended upon work and pray as if everything depended upon prayer.—William Booth

The way to Heaven is ascending; we must be content to travel uphill, though it be hard and tiresome, and contrary to the natural bias of our flesh.—Jonathan Edwards

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.—Henry Ford

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.—Harriet Beecher Stowe

We are always in the forge or on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.—Henry Ward Beecher

Perseverance in prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance but rather laying hold of God’s willingness. Our sovereign God has purposed to sometimes require persevering prayer as the means to accomplish His will.—William Thrasher

If you are going through hell, keep going.―Winston S. Churchill

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.―Maya Angelou

I am tired in the Lord’s work, but not tired of it.—George Whitefield

You cannot learn to persevere unless you have had to fight through and past adversity. Pain is turned into purpose, suffering into satisfaction, defeat into determination, sorrow into sympathy, and hopelessness into heavenly victory when each is subjugated beneath perseverance, born of faith.—Author Unknown

* * *

(Maria:) The last things that we read in an article are often what we remember most. So, to end with Bible verses to help stir our determination and perseverance in following Jesus seems fitting.

So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward. You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.—Hebrews 10:35–36

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.—Philippians 3:12–14

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.—Hebrews 12:1–3

We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.—Romans 5:3–5

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.—2 Timothy 4:7–8

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.—Hebrews 10:23

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.—James 1:12

Let us not become weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.—Galatians 6:9

Originally published March 2023. Republished on Anchor June 2026. Read by Lenore Welsh.

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A Message of Hope

This is a message of hope for you if you are suffering, a message that a better time is coming. So don’t despair, don’t give up. Try to be kind and loving and positive in spite of your circumstances. Someday you will be rewarded if you accept the love of the One who died for you to bring you a better life where you can live with Him in His beautiful home forever, as one of the members of His family, not having to suffer anymore—ever.

Life is hard; there’s no question about it. But there is someone you can counsel with when decisions seem too hard to make. There is someone you can run to when your heart is breaking and you need a friend to just sit beside you and hold your hand. There is someone who will be there for you in the good times as well as the bad. Not only that, there is someone who has promised to take all the bad things that happen to you and eventually bring good from them.

This is the One who the Bible describes as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3)—someone who suffered the greatest of all suffering and who understands your worst emotional and physical pain. He is everything that you could ever want in a friend, a counselor, a guide, a teacher, and a father. He is Jesus, the Son of God.

God’s love is unending, it’s without limits. It’s higher than the highest mountain, deeper than the deepest sea. It’s everywhere, and it’s always, and there’s nothing like it anywhere! It’s all-encompassing, awesome, and magnificent! It’s far too big for us to fully comprehend.

Yet God wanted us to experience this monumental love. So our amazing Creator had a plan! He packed all that love and all that compassion and all that understanding into His Son, Jesus. Then He sent Him to earth to live like us. He came as a baby to live on earth and experience the things we go through. However, unlike us, Jesus was both God and man.

His mission on earth was finished when He died an excruciating death on the cross, rose from the dead, and went back to His Father and His heavenly home. He was willing to make that supreme sacrifice for us in order to take our sins upon Himself and redeem us. He did this so that we could be forgiven and know how great a love He has for us.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

This love is manifested not only in the heavenly home that He has prepared for you, but also in His walking with you through all the difficulties, challenges, problems, losses, and tragedies of this life.

An amazing thing is that Jesus knows you personally. He knows your name. He knows all the things you go through. He knows all your problems and heartaches, and He wants to help you through each one.

He’s with you all the time, and when you open your heart to Him, you can hear Him speak to you. He wants to be your best friend and to carry on a conversation with you. He is everything good and beautiful, and He can help you to find that goodness and beauty.

It’s possible for you to experience the contentment He gives even if you live in a tent, a broken-down shed, or a mud hut where water pours in when it rains. He can help you even if you work in a sewer or in a garbage dump, or even worse, if you don’t have any job. No matter what your circumstances, you can experience joy and you can hold on to hope.

He’s promised that if you ask Him, and you have faith, He will answer you. As small and weak as you may feel, you can count on Him. You also have loved ones praying for you who are now in heaven with Jesus, along with the saints. God promises that all things are possible to those who believe.

If you open your heart to Him and make Him an important part of your life, He will answer you, He will speak to you, He will help you navigate this life. You can find the peace and faith and strength that comes as you trust in Jesus as your best friend.

No matter how difficult things are, you can know that He is right there to help you cope. God doesn’t always take the bad things away, but He can make it easier for you and help you through each difficulty you face.

After you’ve walked with Him through this life, you will be able to keep walking with Him right into the next life in heaven! You will enter the most beautiful place where you will live forever in joy and peace. Love and justice will reign, and you will never be hurt or cheated or oppressed or taken advantage of again. You will never know pain or poverty again.

When it’s time for the angels to accompany you to heaven, you will hear Jesus say, “You did well, My dear one! My home is your home! Come right in! We’ll celebrate together!—Forever!”

May you know His all-encompassing love. May you understand how important you are to Him. May you have faith that He is always beside you, and may you have His supernatural joy, no matter what your circumstances.

If you would like to ask Jesus into your heart, you can do so by praying a simple prayer, such as:

Dear Jesus, I need You. You know all that I’m going through, and You understand my struggles. Even when I can’t see the way to go, You are there with me. I need Your presence in my life. Please come into my heart, forgive me my wrongdoings, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus says to you, “I’m standing at the door of your heart and knocking. If you hear my voice and open your door, I’ll come in and we’ll have a wonderful meal together.” (See Revelation 3:20.) He has promised to come into your life and to fill it with His joy, peace, comfort, and eternal salvation.

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Light at the End of the Valley

By Maria

September 1, 2012

Have you ever faced something that seemed totally hopeless; you felt like there wasn’t any way out of your difficulties and everything looked lost? Or maybe you’re in one of those places right now where the situation seems impossible and it looks like this is going to go on and on, and there isn’t any hope in sight.

Maybe you seem all alone and feel like no one else is going through such intense, horrific, and painful circumstances, like you’re encircled on all sides with no place to run. You can’t seem to hear God speak to you and nothing seems to indicate that He’s there.

Maybe it would help to remember that there have been some pretty well-known people who have felt the same way—those who experienced great adversity. If you think I’m going to tell you that they slid by basically unscathed with great joy and victory in their hearts, no, I’m not, because that’s not what happened.

Here are a few examples of men in the Bible who suffered incredibly. We are given little glimpses into what they went through, but a few words on a page can scarcely convey the enormity of the struggles and battles that they had to fight.

We all know about Job. It wouldn’t hurt to go back and read the very vivid accounts of what he went through. He was in such anguish and distress that he bitterly blamed God for even letting him be born. He was at the point where he begged God to end his life.

Abraham is another one who could hardly bear the excruciating pain when God asked him to send away his firstborn son, Ishmael. It’s painful to even think about the indescribable agony he went through when he was faced with sacrificing Isaac, his son of hope, his son of promise, the one to carry on the family line, the one to support them in their old age, and the one he loved so very dearly.

I imagine Moses got pretty disheartened (to put it mildly) when the people he was giving his life to help turned against him and became vindictive and critical, constantly finding fault and barraging him with their grievances and assailing him with their verbal abuse. They leveled serious charges against him, repeatedly accusing him of bringing them into the wilderness to kill them, until at one point he cried out to God desperately, saying, “What am I going to do, Lord? These people are getting ready to stone me.”

David lost some of his sons, he lost his kingdom, he lost his health, and he lost a whole series of battles against his enemies. Try to imagine the torment and trauma he must have endured for long periods. You’re probably familiar with some of his feelings of woe and the despair in his writings in Psalms. Listen to this one: “Will the Lord turn away from us for ever? And isn’t He going to be kind to us any longer? Is His unfailing love gone permanently? Has His word come to nothing? Has He forgotten to be compassionate? Is He withholding His tender mercies because He’s angry with us?”[1] It sounds like he was at the end of his rope.

I think Jeremiah must have felt deeply discouraged. How could you have it any worse than this: Very influential people were plotting to kill him. He was rejected, he was mocked and despised, he was thrown in jail, and he was dumped into a well that had no water in it, only deep mud into which he sank.— Thank God, or that would have been the end of him! So there are always things to praise God for. But I have a feeling he must have gone through some major depression over all that, deeper than the pit he'd been thrown into and the mud he was mired in.

And Joseph! Poor Joseph! He must have faced intense discouragement and times of depression; after all, being sold into slavery by your own brothers is not something that you can lightly dismiss. But then, as soon as things began to look up, well, most of you know the story. He was unjustly thrown into prison with no hope of getting out. Hopeless. Helpless. Impossible.

Peter was evidently ready to give up his calling after he denied Jesus. Think about that for a while; what kind of feelings that must have brought with it. Having denied knowing his own Savior, how could he ever want to show his face in public again, much less be trusted as a leader of the early church?

Even Paul, who mostly tried to present his victories in his letters of encouragement to the churches, felt hopeless and despondent at times. Although in 2 Corinthians 4:8 Paul voiced the well-known verse, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair,” this apparently was in his “good” times, or at least better times. Listen to the other side of the situation, in which Paul said, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.”[2] It just shows that we can still have faith in Jesus even when things are so bad that it seems like it would be better not to even be alive.

These men are some of God’s greats. If they passed through such terrible anguish of spirit in their lives for God, why should we think it strange that God’s children today should have their times of desolation and even despair when they can’t see anything good coming from their lives? They can’t see the rewards. They can’t see the promises. It often just looks like failure.

Everyone goes through the valley of weeping and mourning at some point. David described it as the “valley of Baca,” meaning literally weeping, lamentations—a vale of tears.[3]

The key is that we go through it, and as we do, we can, as the Bible puts it, “make it a well.” It can become a place of refreshing springs.

In the previous two verses, David states that those who are praising God find their strength in Him. In their hearts are the ways of those who, passing through this valley of tears, make it a well.[4] We can tend to equate praising God with something we do when we feel all warm and happy and content, but one thing that all these “men of faith” have in common is that they continued to praise God through their valleys of Baca, their misery and suffering. They weren’t sitting around merrily singing little praise songs. They were in agony.

Sometimes they were enduring such intense suffering or despair that all they could do was cry out for the Lord’s mercy, but even that was a praise because it was acknowledging God’s total control and their faith in His mercy and power to deliver.

Verse 6 in the original text then goes on to tell us a beautiful secret. According to Strong's Concordance, the phrase that the King James translators translated as "the rain also filleth the pools" in the original Hebrew can also be translated as "The Teacher (referring to God, the Great Teacher) overshadows with blessings." What a beautiful interpretation, and how fitting it is.

So as we pass through this valley of tears and suffering and hardships, yet still praising Him, we can make that desolate valley of suffering into a spring of refreshing, and our Teacher overshadows us with blessings.

The water that becomes a fountain of refreshing can turn our journey of life—that would otherwise be gloomy and sad—into joy; turn our mourning into dancing, and give us comfort and beauty.[5] And later when we’ve come through the valley, we can look back with gratitude, realizing that these things have given enrichment and enhancement to our lives. Our Great Teacher will have enveloped us with priceless blessings of spiritual growth and a deeper understanding of Himself, and a heart that comes to resemble His own more and more.



[1] Psalm 77:7–9.


[2] 2 Corinthians 1:8 NIV.


[3] Psalm 84:6.


[4] Psalm 84:4–5.


[5] Psalm 30:11.



Copyright © 2012 The Family International.

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