“Success is not the absence of failure; it’s the persistence through failure.” – Aisha Tyler

There are so many days I’ve been tempted to quite writing. When I was told I wouldn’t be able to support my family on a writer’s income. When I was told I wasn’t good at spelling or grammar (which is, unfortunately, true.) When I realized I had no idea how to market my first book once I published it.

There are so many days I want to quit sheltering at home. When brothers and sisters in Christ tell me I don’t have faith in Christ. When I’m at the end of my rope with my children. When it seems like everyone around me is out doing fun things and not getting sick.

There are so many days I want to hire a nanny to take on the ‘hard’ parts of mothering. When my kids are screaming at each other. When they ‘touch, touch, touch’ and I’m beyond overwhelmed. When they’re crying uncontrollably for no reason.

But that’s not what I’ve been called to do. I’ve been called to write. I’ve been called to stay at home for now. I’ve been called to be mother to my wonderful children. And I will write and stay home and be a mom as best as I know how.

Water carves through rock over time, by persistence – sometimes with more force sometimes with less. But although rock is stronger than water inch-for-inch, water wins over time. It slowly tears into the rock, making a path for it to flow through.

I will make mistakes in my writing – I’ll misspell words and overuse commas, I’ll market my books wrong, I’ll not line up the title on the spine perfectly. There will be days I leave the house. I will mess up while parenting – I’ll yell at the kids, skip a bath, and count pickles as a vegetable.

But I’ll pick myself up.

I’ll learn from those mistakes.

I’ll go on. I’ll persevere. And since I’ve been called to these things, there will be a beautiful ending. I have no idea what the result will be, but I can trust that God will work it out for my good (Romans 8:28.) Through persistence I will make it through stronger.

What about you? What do you need to persist through today? Let’s push on through together.