In my words I would say persistence is to be determined to continue to do good and righteous things that will get you closer to your goals and aspirations. I learned from personal experience that a companion word for persistence is patience , I say that because often results do not come quickly and certainly do not come always in the shape and form we aspired, it is however the act of persisting that develops the attitude of walking with purposefulness in life. When confronted with the need of persisting in life, and I believe all will face such necessity, maybe you will have to show persistence in obtaining an education or maybe you need to persist to overcome a challenge or difficulty, when that happen the choice will be ours to endure or not like any other decision we make, one thing I already know... when we persist in doing good things, good things happen! Link: Article: The Most Powerful Motivating Force - Liahona of August 2008