Do you ever feel like giving up? Sometimes I do.
Years ago, when extremely frustrated with a work situation, I cried into the phone as I relayed the story to my friend. Hurt, feeling overlooked, and exhausted from the workload, I whispered, “I think I need to quit.”
My understanding friend received my pain and lovingly returned it wrapped in wisdom. “It may be right for you to quit but not like this.”
Her words renewed my resolve for the moment.
Those few words have continued to speak to me throughout the years and have served as a litmus test for endurance, especially when life is just plain hard. Is this the right time to quit or is it a matter of stick-to-itiveness?
What about you? Do you feel like giving up on something? Is the weight heavy?
As we travel this faith journey, we may go down a path cluttered with briars of the unknown, with weeds of pain, and with an aroma of danger. But we keep going. Sometimes our pace slows for a while. Sometimes we need to take a rest. Sometimes we need encouragement from a friend, but we keep going knowing that it is part of our calling.
We are equipped for this journey.
We persevere knowing that God will use these moments, hours, and days for His glory and eternal purposes.
Moments of pain will be worth it if we do not give up.
“Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. (2 Corinthians 4:16-17 CSB).
(Dedicated to Sheralyn Smith)
Thanks Denisa!! At one time I gave up on my marriage, but God sent a neighbor, a woman with 20 years more my senior. She encouraged me, and gave me a different perspective than what my eyes could see and gave me hope to not give up.
Thanks for the reminder of HIS LOVING GRACE!!
Linda
As we go on this journey of life, a great reminder that we are never alone.
Enjoyed your blog. I totally get the giving up part as I've been there many times myself. There were times when I did give up because I knew I had no other choice. But I do agree that there are times when you must stick it out. Your friend was right. Sometimes it might be the right thing to do but not yet. I've been there too and that's when it worked out and I allowed God to take me by the hand and lead me on. I'll admit sometimes God had to nudge me a bit. Okay, maybe He nudged me more than a bit. As it turned out the nudging was necessary and I persevered.
Wise words from your friend, and you.
Ahh... the last satisfaction that comes from persevering. As you point out Ms. Denise, it's the "not like this. that keeps us going. I think too, for me, it was the camaraderie of serving together with others (both in the military and in my Christian life) that has kept me going when I wanted to quit. I just couldn't let my "buddy" down. I pray that makes sense ma'am. God's blessings and thank you for sharing such wisdom today.