diff --git a/src/contrib/persistence/Akka.Persistence.Sql.Common/Journal/SqlJournal.cs b/src/contrib/persistence/Akka.Persistence.Sql.Common/Journal/SqlJournal.cs
index bd439ef2aec..967dda87731 100644
--- a/src/contrib/persistence/Akka.Persistence.Sql.Common/Journal/SqlJournal.cs
+++ b/src/contrib/persistence/Akka.Persistence.Sql.Common/Journal/SqlJournal.cs
@@ -257,8 +257,9 @@ protected bool WaitingForInitialization(object message)
                     return true;
                 case Status.Failure fail:
                     Log.Error(fail.Cause, "Failure during {0} initialization.", Self);
-                    Context.Stop(Self);
-                    return true;
+                    
+                    // trigger a restart so we have some hope of succeeding in the future even if initialization failed
+                    throw new ApplicationException("Failed to initialize SQL Journal.", fail.Cause);
                 default:
                     Stash.Stash();
                     return true;
diff --git a/src/contrib/persistence/Akka.Persistence.Sql.Common/Snapshot/SqlSnapshotStore.cs b/src/contrib/persistence/Akka.Persistence.Sql.Common/Snapshot/SqlSnapshotStore.cs
index c2faf4f038e..8b3b86dcf95 100644
--- a/src/contrib/persistence/Akka.Persistence.Sql.Common/Snapshot/SqlSnapshotStore.cs
+++ b/src/contrib/persistence/Akka.Persistence.Sql.Common/Snapshot/SqlSnapshotStore.cs
@@ -137,8 +137,9 @@ private bool WaitingForInitialization(object message)
                     return true;
                 case Status.Failure msg:
                     Log.Error(msg.Cause, "Error during snapshot store initialization");
-                    Context.Stop(Self);
-                    return true;
+                    
+                    // trigger a restart so we have some hope of succeeding in the future even if initialization failed
+                    throw new ApplicationException("Failed to initialize SQL SnapshotStore.", msg.Cause);
                 default:
                     Stash.Stash();
                     return true;