The balance between God’s sovereignty and my responsibility is challenging to figure out mentally. One of the verses that helps me is 2 Corinthians 6:1 “And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.”

I see many people who are up and down in their walk with the Lord, and with many of those individuals, the weak character traits in their life are self-control, diligence, endurance, and faithfulness.

2 Peter 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,

Hebrews 6:11-12 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish,

Hebrews 12:1 let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and I want to bear much fruit, grow every day of my life, never backslide, never get lukewarm, and finish life well crossing the finish line at a sprint.

Because of that desire I set goals, make “to do” lists, keep track of my time, stay in accountability groups, pray a prayer of commitment every morning, and ask God for strength constantly.

At this point in my life I know that my health is a significant factor in what I do and how much I do, so I am going to take every day as a gift and run with it. As things change I am prepared mentally to shift from doing, working, teaching, counseling, and meeting to praying more and more. I am pretty sure that when I get to heaven and see clearly, that I will know that the time I spent praying for people was the most profitable use if my time, energy, and life of anything else that I did.