Dear Ms. Mabel,

I’m so tired. Nothing is going my way. Everything is falling apart – my job, my relationships and my finances are all a mess. I’m tired of trying so hard and nothing going my way. Some days I just want to give up and stop doing the right thing. I woke up this morning mad at the world.

Why is everything going wrong when I keep doing the right things?

At Wit’s End,

White House, TN

Truth be told, thank you for inviting me to your pity party of 1. Misery does love company.

Alright now, don’t get your panties in a bunch, I’m just messing with you. I only pick at people I love.

I’m sorry you’re having such a time. It sounds like life has handed you a whole bunch of nothing lately. Let me see if I can set you back to right.

You said you keep doing all the right things but nothing is working out. You wonder what's the point, huh?

Well, I can’t imagine heaping guilt on top of all that other mess is going to do you any good. You say you are doing the right things; well, that means you know what the wrong things are. If you know what’s wrong, your conscience isn’t going to let you get away with taking the wrong path.

Oh, it might feel good at the moment but it’s gonna bite you at some point. Now, I don’t know if your version of not doing the right things involves something akin to losing your temper on a loved one or more like robbing a liquor store at gunpoint.

In either case, it ain’t going to do you no good.

You gotta keep on keeping on, little sister.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that you don’t want to be tired, lonely, broke AND start suffocating under the weight of overwhelming guilt, right?

Right.

The good news is, nothing lasts forever.

I’m gonna jump behind the pulpit for a minute, if y’all don’t mind. If you do mind, though, this column probably isn’t for you, anyways.

The Bible says in Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

That’s a good one, isn’t it? Don’t give up on doing the right thing because if you are sowing the right things, you’ll harvest the right things. Now, what do you think is gonna happen if you start tossing out seeds of wrong?

I don’t even have to answer that, cause you already know…

To take it one step further James 1:2-4 says:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Another word for perseverance is endurance. I can tell you right now, whether you are exercising your body OR your mind, there’s not much more satisfying than building the endurance it takes to get through anything that comes your way.

Someday you may look back on this time in your life and think “if I can get through that I can certainly get through anything.”

It ain’t gonna do you one bit of good to give up now. Keep doing what you are doing, keep running the race toward better days ahead. You will be thankful for it someday and have a great big reason to be proud of yourself.

Start searching for things to be grateful for and focus on that. Get ahold your mind and fling those bad thoughts as far as you can. It will take a lot of work to keep it under control but it will be worth it.

I love you. I’ll be praying for you, darlin.