Perseverance is not a glamorous trait these days I think, in a worldwhere everything is instant we are not accustomed to keep trying atsomething , we want things to happen now , we expect them to happen now.
I confess at this point that I am very happy such time savers arearound, because I am not particularly patient, but I wonder if we arelosing the art of perseverance. Looking at Wimbledon this week I wasadmiring how much perseverance the players had to have, to focus andtrain, to keep going when their game is off, and to go out and keeptrying until eventually they win through.
So to with our relationship with God. Throughout the old testament wesee characters who never gave up despite their struggles, Joseph couldhave turned his back on God so many times, cast out by his family,imprisoned by Pharoah, yet all the time his faith remained.
 There is comfort in that, no matter how we struggle we need topersevere, praying, reading God's word ,never giving up on God as henever gives up on us.

"Ask and you will receive;seek, and you will find; knock and the doorwill be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive, and anyonewho seeks will find, and the door will be open to those who knock."Matthew 7 vs 7-8