AM: Sometimes I’m tempted to give up on trying to work things out with X.  

Betty: That part in you is dangerous. Because I am afraid you’ll give up on something later that you’ll be sorry you gave up. 

AM: I agree. 

Betty: Okay, why don’t you stop there, and pray, and ask the Lord to help you with that. Because that is dangerous. And Satan always looks for our Achille’s heel. So, you’re liable to be quite tempted in that area if things get really rough. And you don’t want to give up. See, it’s a similar thing to X. When you want to give up, you’re in a similar place to her weakness, aren’t you? 

AM: Well, I mean, I want to give up on trying to work it out.

Betty: Okay, but look at what’s going on behind that. Why are you so desperate that you want to give up? 

AM: Because I feel like it just doesn’t change. I invest and it just doesn’t change.

Betty: Okay, so it’s impatience. What is impatience? 

AM: I want my will. 

Betty: Yeah, and it’s not coming fast enough. You see, it’s a similar thing to X. And if you look at her weaknesses, a lot of it comes down to if she could really beg the Lord to help her get more disciplined and be able to hold off on immediate comforts. That could help her go a long way. And what about you?

I get worried when I see that tendency in you to get impatient and give up. Because I think, “Oh, dear. It’s like an open door where Satan can really get you.”  We can’t give up. The alternative is much worse. Think about it. You’ve got to work on that. You’ve got to convince yourself, “Okay, I want immediate comfort, and I get impatient if I don’t have whatever the issue is. But to give up is to open the door to Satan. And I’m not ready to go there. Because the alternative is much worse than the discomfort of hanging in there. 

If you give up, you’re opening the door. And Satan puts his foot in, and he tempts you again. And then you give up, and he gets his first leg in. And then he tempts you again, and you get impatient and can’t wait. So, do you see how he can wiggle his way in? So, you have to pay too much. It’s not worth it. It’s like that old saying, “Two minutes on the lips and forever on the hips.” That saying is dealing with the comfort of two minutes of eating, and then we have that terrible can’t get it off feeling.

So, maybe there’s where you and X get hooked. She sees that in you and doesn’t respect you. And you see her stuff, and because you don’t like the part of you that does that, it’s easy to transfer your own self-hatred over to her. And then we throw the whole bag over. And the whole bag is, “Oh what’s the use? Nothing’s gonna change, blah, blah, blah.” It’s the whole discouragement kind of crap. So, it’s really what you’re throwing over. It’s not nice. 

If you find yourself in a similar position, you’ve got to convince yourself, “Okay, I want immediate comfort, and I get impatient if I don’t have whatever the issue is. But to give up is to open the door to Satan. And I’m not ready to go there. Because the alternative is much worse than the discomfort of hanging in there.”