Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.  Psalms 31:24 

 

When prizefighter James Corbett was asked what it takes to become a champion, he replied, 'Fight one more round!' Did you know that: (1) Somerset Maugham earned only $2,000 during his first ten years as a writer (2) Enrico Caruso was a factory worker who studied singing for 12 years before getting his first small break (3) Gershwin composed 100 melodies before he sold one - for $5 (4) Zane Grey didn’t sell a single story during his first five years as a writer. Study the lives of those you most admire and you’ll discover that they spent years surmounting obstacles, facing their deepest fears, learning from repeated failures, and rising above the predictions of those who said, 'You’ll never make it'. If you’re looking for a neat, clean, respectable, no-loose-ends formula for success, forget it! Success is sweat, perspective and dirt under your fingernails. It’s discipline, commitment, and a long-distance view. It’s the tenacious bulldog quality of Churchill rising in the darkest hours of World War II to tell the nation, 'What is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory... at all costs; victory, in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.' Don’t be discouraged if your dream hasn’t yet come true. Keep pursuing it. Pray over it daily. Study and learn. Grow by experience. Keep working. Victory always goes to the man or woman who’s willing to 'fight one more round!'