You’ll win if you don’t quit! I learned that quitters don’t win when I faced formidable circumstances and complex dilemmas.
More than a few times, I felt my faith give way and my heart become faint. I remember trying to get a loan for a piece of property for our church in West Virginia.
It seemed that at every turn I ran into an obstacle. I had applied at different banks. Some said no; others required 40 percent down (which was still a no because I didn’t have it).
I carried the cross of their rejection silently. I didn’t want the church to know that our dream was my nightmare.
I reasoned the church could stay where it was, even though the space was too small. I sometimes wondered if it would be better to let go of the pain of wanting and settle for the calm mediocrity of the status quo.
But after every rejection my passion would revitalize and I would try again. Whether I was secretly masochistic or had faith, I wasn’t sure.
I was not certain I had the right approach or the right business acumen, but unbeknownst to me, I was attaining my business acumen through the rejection process!
The pain of the process ultimately empowered me to acquire the property. Yes, I did get the loan and we purchased the building.
But the greater gift was the experience. I learned to persevere, even in the tempestuous, arduous, agonizing becoming stage.
The West African Ashanti people say, “If you understand the beginning well, the end will not trouble you.”
When you are sure that you are aimed toward Destiny, you will not worry about the end. Instead, dig in your heels and hold on for the ride, with all of its highs and lows.
Admittedly, tough times can make you want to run for the nearest exit. Keep in mind that those who figure out how to slide their way past difficulties do not meet their God-appointed destiny.
Destiny belongs to those who demand it by their faithful and dogged determination to hang in there until they achieve what they desire.
Tyler Perry, famed playwright, director, actor, and Producer, made his own way to Hollywood filmmaking, a Circuitous route that would have caused many to give up.
During his early years of positioning himself toward Destiny, the road was neither smooth nor accommodating to this young black map from New Orleans’s Seventh Ward.
In the toughest times, Tyle, fought the fights that were worth pursuing and let go of the fights that were counterproductive to Destiny.
Starting at age twenty-two, Tyler wrote, directed, and produced many stage plays that were financed with his persona) savings.
For more performances than he could count, only a handful of people showed up. This went on for years.
He continued to save and invest his own money to produce the plays, but nothing seemed to take off. Even when the cast performed to a nearly empty house, Tyler never let go of his dream.
He battled all obstacles to produce another play, even when no one had come to the previous one.
Later, after some success with his plays, he stayed in the fight when Hollywood executives told him, ridiculously, they couldn’t back his movie because “Black people don’t go to the movies.”
He held on and refused to let go of his dream to write, direct, and produce plays and movies.
As Tyler fought for his place among filmmakers, he chose to let go of the fights that were counterproductive to Destiny.
He could have spent his life fighting a father who ridiculed him. He could have engaged in a lifelong emotional battle against the people who sexually abused him.
Instead, he invested his Warrior Spirit in fights that were worth the effort to get his plays and films to audiences.
Tyler kept on fighting to live his dream, even when he was homeless and sleeping in his automobile. Because he never gave up, the winds of fate changed in his favor and he has since sold millions of theater and movie tickets to fang of his beloved Madea persona and the characters in his many other film and theatrical productions.
That’s the kind of fight that’s worth your energy. The fighting spirit in you that says, “I will…” is the tenacity you need to dig in deeper when friends and loved ones are looking at you and snickering because it seems like you’ve just been following a pipe dream for years.
You’ve got another plan to make it big. You’ve started on another diet. You’ve started dating someone new. Meanwhile, the people around you are saying, “Uh-oh. Here we go again.”
Ignore them and keep fighting because you are headed to a place they cannot see; stop expecting them to understand why you’re willing to hold on and not let go.
As they laugh or chuck their tongues, strengthen yourself to dig your heels in deeper. Don’t tell them your dream. Sarcasm and doubt from other people can weaken your staying power.
If you listen to enough of their vitriol, you will start to believe that you really are stupid for hanging on when there seems to be no reason.
Any person who has achieved success arrived at a pivotal point when he or she had to decide to keep going despite failures, despite negative future forecasts, despite haters who couldn’t understand what it means to be focused on Destiny.
There’s a critical point that eve successful person reaches when they say, “I’m going to stay right here and make this work die trying.”
You’ll win if you don’t quit!? Share your thought below…..
