Persevere when times are tough
Several years ago when I watched the weekly church television program “Hour of Power”, I was really moved by the sermon delivered by Jim Penner called ” What in the World are you Waiting For?” He talked about how we need to stop waiting around wasting time; we should climbing our “mountains” instead. Our mountains can be anything–financial, medical, relationship, family, etc. We all have mountains to face everyday. In fact, we are never really free from mountains we have to climb. If we climb one, chances are that another one will soon take its place. Therefore in order to achieve any goal in life, there may be mountains (large or small) to climb. However, they will not simply disappear on their own. How do you climb a mountain?
Rest assured, you do not have to do it alone. God is always there to help us; we just need to be humble enough to ask for His help and guidance. (For those of you who are reading this blog post are not of the Christian faith, do not despair. Feel free to substitute whatever deity you like. The point I am making is that there is nothing wrong with seeking help in climbing your mountain.)
Jim Penner said that we can climb our mountains if we follow the acronym C.L.I.M.B.
C–Climb your mountain
You must be willing to climb it and remember that you don’t have to do it alone. I remember several years ago I had to walk barefoot across a bed of hot coals during one of Tony Robbins’ “Firewalk” seminars. I saw other people that were ahead of me walk across successfully. When it was my turn however, I was very afraid and I kept thinking that I was not going to make it–that I would burn my feet; I just could not do it. Then my friend Renee, who had already walked across the hot coals successfully, said to me, “If I could do it, you can do it”. All of a sudden, I somehow mustered up enough faith and courage to do it. So I walked across, and to this day, I remember I feeling like I was floating across those hot coals as if God was holding my hand through it all. I did not have any burns on my feet either.
L–Live for today, not tomorrow
Of course, you must plan for tomorrow in terms of setting goals for yourself and your family. However, don’t get so wrapped up in planning for tomorrow that you forget about living for today. I think that there is some truth to the saying “Live each day as if it were your last day on earth. Tomorrow is never promised to you”.
I–Inspire someone else 
Inspire someone else to climb his/her mountain as well. Oftentimes inspiration and determination are increased when people climb mountains together.
M–Motivate
Find a source of motivation for yourself as you climb your mountain. That source could be like the Bible or self-help books. You could also talk to other people who have either succeeded in getting to where you want to be or will encourage you to succeed.
B–Believe in God
Say to yourself, “With God’s help, I will climb my mountain”. Whatever that mountain is, you must believe that you can climb it–regardless that it may take days, weeks, months, or years to reach. Never give up or stop believing that you will reach the mountaintop.
Just think, if you succeed in climbing a mountain once, you should never stop climbing future mountains because you now know that it is definitely possible after all.
What’s Next?
You have climbed your mountain; you have succeeded in reaching your goal. What is the next step? Do you just coast along, riding on the coattails of your recent success, or do you set a new goal? In order to keep moving forward, it is necessary to set new goals–climb new mountains. This is necessary because life in general never stays the same; it constantly changes. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt to change because it can have either a negative or positive effect on you at any time. To learn how to adapt to change in a positive way, click here.
I sincerely hope that I have inspired you to move forward in setting goals that will encourage you to climb mountains that are necessary to achieve those goals. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below. If you need help in setting goals for yourself or would like to meet people who are interested in helping each other climb mountains to achieve success, may I suggest you take a look at my #1 recommendation.
Wishing you the best of success in climbing your mountains,
Deidre
Source: “What in the World Are You Waiting For?” Sermon delivered by Jim Penner, on the Hour of Power, aired on February 14, 2010.
Images courtesy of www.clker.com
I read your article with great interest and I think every aspect of CLIMB is there to keep you going. I believe momentum is very important and I guess also knowing why are you CLIMB-ing for. I usually set myself pretty high goals that are hard to reach..and then I loose motivation failing all together. I sincerely believe CLIMB can help me improve that! Although I’m not into religion, I do think you have to believe in something higher..either that’s God, Energy, Cosmos or Your power of preservation.
Hi Kat,
Thanks for commenting. I think that the things we want most in life we have to work hard for or climb a mountain. Once we get
to the top of the mountain, we tend to feel like something great was accomplished. Achieving success without any motivation or goal
would be difficult. So, stay motivated and never stop setting goals for yourself.
Thanks Dee
I wanted to write something about self-motivation and self-determination. People in America are too focused on why they can’t do something, instead of focusing on how they can do something. This article is a great how to start.
Hello Bob,
Yes, I agree with you that people need to change their focus from why they can’t do something to how can they do something. They need to look at their glass as half-full instead of half-empty. It would be so nice if my message could reach others who may need encouragement and self-motivation. Thanks for commenting; please feel free to share my post with your friends.