It’s at every corner. Sometimes it squeaks, sometimes it roars, and sometimes it sneaks up on you. At other times it can be invisible. You find yourself feeling all kinds of frustrations. You try to figure out what caused it. Especially, since you never saw it coming. But truth be told sometimes it is hard to pinpoint because it disguises itself. It can come through people, places, situations, or things. You can be watching tv and suddenly notice that you’re starting to feel a little bit discouraged. You try to think about what could have happened during your day to get you there. You replay every phone call and every interaction but can’t come up with what led to your feeling like you are ready to give it all up.

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Discouragement is not just an emotion, but it is a spirit that tries to lure you into a mindset that says, “You’ll never get there”, “There’s someone better than you.”, “It never worked before, so why try again.”, “You’re not equipped.”, You’re a fool if you try.”  And the list goes on. Discouragement’s role is to cause you to fall short of your calling. Life is going to be life, so you have to allow God to be God. Everything that God made is good so why do we constantly compare ourselves to others thinking that we are inferior? If God made you then you are beautifully and wonderfully made. Therefore, you must realize that we all have something to give. We are all great in our own way.

You may not be meant to be like the person that you admire because God made you “you” and called you for a special purpose which means your path to success will not look like the success of those you see on tv, hear on the radio, or that live down the street in the big fancy house. You have your own path to follow so you must adjust your focus to behold what it is that makes you “you” and what it is that you have that makes you capable. Recognize your strengths and ask God to help you in your areas of opportunity as He sees fit.

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There are certain things that you desire that may not be meant for you because it may not be your calling so no matter how much you beg and plead it may not be given unto you because it is not your design. You may want to be a football player but God is calling you to teach. You may want to be a model but God is calling you to be a florist.  You may want to be a firefighter but God is leading you to start a prison ministry, and the person that wants to be a world-renowned preacher God may be calling to open a coffee shop. The point is have your dreams, hold them close, but not so close that you can’t see that God may be trying to bring you to your success in a way you never saw coming.

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Yes, God will give us the desires of our heart and we are to have faith and trust Him to answer our prayers but you never know if the things that you may not want to do and the road that you may not want to take is leading you to the very thing that you asked God for. However, you are just too caught up in wanting it your way that you cannot see it.

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God works in mysterious ways and sometimes He wants to see if we will answer His call before He answers ours. Remaining faithful is not easy, especially when everything around you looks different than what you want but don’t despair. Hold on, hang in there, and tell discouragement to have several seats.