Wondrous hope in the grace of Christ

What do you do when everyone and everything seems to be against you now that you have embarked on a new direction in life, started a new life's work or project you believe in?

Everyone, even strangers, seems to assume 'you're wrong' and tells you you can't do what you're trying to do. You can divert criticism for a while by insisting that: they are the ones that're wrong, and I am right, that I know what I am doing; they know nothing, they are nothing; they are the ones worth nothing; because I know more and am worth something, I am somebody!'; and you cling to a will-o'-the-wisp pride and self-esteem which is quickly slipping away, refusing to face the truth that you are struggling beyond your means.

They tell you to stop trying so hard, that it will only go as it will, and so to take it easy. Quit while you still can.

The answer both is and isn't to stop struggling.

Yes, you stop struggling in the sense of stop denying, resisting and refusing to accept reality.

But, you do not refuse the hardship of looking straight at the less-than-ideal self that you are running away from. You do not refuse the hardship of acknowledging what you are experiencing - that you are encountering a seemingly impenetrable wall, a seemingly endless frustration, a seemingly insurmountable impasse of "long hours of hard work with no results" with your life's project; and are taking it out on everyone and everything around you; perceiving slights, intended and unintended.

You do stop struggling in a sense that you acknowledge reality without resisting; you akcnowledge that you weren't as good or as advanced as you'd thought and wished you were; and reconsider soberly your current capabilities. You stop struggling in a sense that you acknowledge the reality of where you are now without beating yourself up with the futility of thinking why I can't have been more talented or why I can't improve faster.

You do not refuse the hardship of endless exercise, grueling training, increasingly challenging practice, observing and incorporating constructive feedback, diligent repetition etc. that is required for you to improve. You need to be telling yourself: this is where I am, not way better as I'd thought or wished; this wasn't as easy or as simple as I'd first assumed. You need to be returning constantly to the ideal of where you would really like to be, instead of harping on the need to see results now. You need to continue perhaps exactly what you have been doing but in a different state of mind: instead of clenching jaws and doing all with fierce will power, hang on to faith that God will provide the strength to continue even though you may not see immediate results and you feel that you cannot persevere.

You do not refuse the hardship of admitting that perhaps somewhere along the way you continued on with your endeavors for the wrong reasons: get ahead, make up for lost time, loss of faith = fear that your goal is escaping you, show someone that you're better than they, prove to yourself that you can go it alone, etc. Once you allow - despite the feeling that you are giving in to some evil force that is there to defeat you - that you are trying to do things yourself instead of trusting the process (training, progress, etc.); then at that very point of letting go though you feel you desperately need to keep going, you create an entry point for quickening, grace, hope and peace, and realize beyond all comprehension that you cannot do, and have not done, anything without God; you actually feel some force moving you toward your goal; that that movement or force had always been there; and you had been getting in its way rather than helping, by trying to make everything happen by yourself. Once you admit, allow, let go, trust, therein comes Christ to your midst and blessing to your endeavors.