See the fortress of St. Ignatius Loyola's home in Loyola, Spain:

Do you ever feel discouraged that you're struggling against the same faults and shortcomings? The saints sometimes did too! Sometimes it seems as if we are banging our heads against a stone wall like the ones above.

One day when St. Gertrude was mentally scolding herself for a fault, and begging Our Lord to free her from it, but:

"The Lord replied lovingly, 'Wherefore dost thou wish that I should be deprived of much honor and thou of a source of merit? For thou gainest a great reward every time that thou, acknowledging this, or a similar defect, resolvest to avoid it for the future; and when any one for love of me strives to overcome his faults, he offers to me as much honor and loyalty as a soldier would offer his king, by strenuously opposing his majesty's enemies in war, and by manfully resisting and overthrowing them.'"

~ Consoling Revelations from the Writings of Saints Gertrude, Mechtild, Bridget and Catherine of Sienna collected by the Ven. Benedictine Abbot Blosius.

Keep up the good fight, defending the castle of our soul against the assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil, for we gain merit and give God glory!