If your beliefs and behavior are initially misunderstood, don't cave in to popular opinion. Hang in there and watch God reward your persistence.

Acclaimed novelist James Lee Burke discovered first-hand the validating sweet fragrance of perseverance. In the mid-'70s the creator of the Dave Robicheaux detective series wrote a book he called The Lost Get-Back Boogie. To his dismay his novel was rejected 111 times by New York publishers alone. (It is still considered the most thoroughly rejected manuscript in American publishing history). But Burke didn't give up and eventually one reluctant publishing house decided to take a chance on his story. In 1985 James Lee Burke was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for The Lost Get-Back Boogie. Imagine the reaction of those scores of editors that originally said the manuscript was unfit.

Another celebrated writer also knew the benefits that come when we choose not to give up or give in. St. Paul wrote "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9)