Florence Chadwick was an American swimmer known for long-distance open water swimming. She was the first woman to swim the 26 mile Catalina Channel, but actually failed on her first attempt. Why? Towards the end of her attempt she was tiring quickly, and a thick fog obscured her ability to see the coastline. She gave up and asked to be pulled into the boat, where she found out that she was actually only a mile from her destination.
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth “We’re not giving up. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever. (II Corinthians 4:16 & 18)
Things around us can look pretty bleak. But what we see is not the full picture. Trust the One who sees AND controls it all to carry you through the long haul, because “this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble.” (II Corinthians 4:17)