Like the Dawn
Esther is compared to the dawn, which ends the whole night, and her prayer teaches that the more the righteous pray, the more they are answered.
Chazal teach that Esther recited the psalm titled For the morning hind, ayeles hashachar, as she prepared to enter the king's court. Rav Asi explains why she is likened to the dawn: just as the dawn is the end of the entire night, so Esther was the end of all the miracles written in the Tanach. Her miracle came at the darkest hour, when the decree was signed and sealed, and it brought the morning. The Gemara adds a second comparison. The prayers of the righteous are likened to a hind, whose antlers keep branching out as long as they grow; so too, the more the righteous pray, the more their prayer is heard. Esther did not pray once and stop. She fasted, she cried out, and she kept going until the light came.
Source: Gemara, Yoma 29a (on Tehillim 22:1)
When a hardship drags on, it is natural to stop asking. Esther teaches the opposite: keep praying, and expect the dawn. Choose one situation you have been davening about for a long time. This week, add one new line about it in your own words in Shema Koleinu, or say one chapter of Tehillim for it each day. When you feel discouraged, remember that the sky is darkest just before the morning, and that Esther's dawn came at the very end of the night.