When I was growing up as a kid, I was told the story of the Wise king and a small boy. It happened that the young boy wanted to test the wisdom of the King. Going to the king with a locust in his closed palms, He asked the King, " I have here with me, a locust, can you tell if this Locust is alive or dead". The boy hides his hand at his back, so the king cannot see what he does with it.
The King pondered for a while before answering him. He knew very well that if he says that the Locust is alive the boy will squeeze the life out of the locust and present a dead locust to the king and if he says that it is dead, the locust will be let loose.
" IT IS IN YOUR HANDS". The King replied. Whether the locust is dead or alive lies in your hands. The boy hearing this response from the king went away disappointed.
Our happiness, sadness, success, or failure is in our hands. No one can take away joy from us except if we allow it. Failure cannot come to us because someone wished us a failure, and no matter how the rough road was made smooth for us, if we fail to do the right thing, it will end up as a wasted effort.
We can be happy amidst difficult situations if we choose happiness over grief, and the first step towards surviving difficult situations is believing that we can overcome them. God cannot do for us what we can do for ourselves. He is only going to give us a push when it appears we are slipping down the hill.
It is a lack of understanding that makes us think that we can't make it on our own. If those we aspire to be like can make it on their own, why can't we?.
Desiring success is not sufficient. No one buys a car or builds a house just by envisioning them, he puts in efforts to actualize them. Permit me to say this, most people who believe that God will give them all their heart desires if only they can serve him well will be deceiving themselves if they fail to work hard in life. Remember his words in Deuteronomy 28:12, "The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow". Source
Whenever it seems the weight of the cross is much, whenever it seems that all our hard work isn't yielding fruits, let us not be discouraged. Joy comes in the morning for those who persevere till the end. Our success or failure during difficult times depends SOLELY ON OUR HANDS.
