Feeling Frustrated?

Photo By Graur Razvan Ionut

This guest post comes from Heather Smith of Nanny.net;

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. – Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)

Leadership is always a difficult position to be placed in. When you are a leader, you are responsible for all those under you. One of the essential ingredients that make a good leader is character. Having a strong, godly, character allows leaders to keep going, even when things get
tough.

Sometimes, however, leaders loose hope. They feel overwhelmed by circumstances and responsibility. They feel that God has taken His hand off them.

We’ve all felt like that at times, even though the Bible tells us repeatedly that He will never leave us or forsake us. But why do we still feel that way? Why do we lose our hope? Are we missing something?

There is one thing we, as leaders, have in common. We all suffer. Some suffering is for Christ, some is a result of our mistakes, and some is just a part of life. But all suffering produces one thing: perseverance.

Keep on, keeping on. We keep working, keep leading despite our struggles.
But it is the way in which we persist that makes the real difference. Let me ask you something: are you persisting with the right attitude?

There’s a right attitude to persistence? Well, according to the Word, there is. There are three types of persistence:

1. Enduring – This is the first type of persistence. This is what most leaders instinctively fall back on. They don’t do or think or try to change, they just survive through the difficulties and hope that their luck will change. This isn’t the way to build character or be a strong leader. You’re not being active. You’re not doing anything. The Lord will let you stay like this until you get fed up with it and try something different.

2. Struggling– This is stage two. You get fed up with doing nothing. So you make up your mind to fight. Under your own power, you fight against whatever or whoever is causing problems. You get angry, you make rash decisions, you snap at your people. It doesn’t do anyone any good. The Lord will let you stay in this stage until you exhaust yourself.

Finally, you’ll move on to the last stage.

3. Waiting – Unlike enduring, waiting is active, but without anger. You are actively waiting on the Lord to change your circumstances. This is where character starts to be built. You’ve learned you can do nothing without Him, so you wait for Him to make the next move. And you’ll be ready. Like the farmer tills the field in preparation for the early rains, you are prepared for whatever the Lord has in store for you next; whether you can see it coming or not.

So if you seem to be stuck in a rut, if you’re hopeless and frustrated and feel like the Lord isn’t keeping His promises, ask yourself one thing: do I have character?

There is a paradigm. The Lord is a God of order, not chaos. He will not let anyone skip a step. If you do not grow in step one, He will keep you there until you are mature enough to move to step two. He’s infinitely patient. He’ll keep waiting for you as long as it takes. The question is: how long are you willing to suffer before you learn?

About the Author

Heather Smith is an ex-nanny. Passionate about thought leadership and writing, Heather regularly contributes to various career, social media, public relations, branding, and parenting blogs/websites. She can be reached at H.smith7295 [at] gmail.com.