In High School

Stick it out! How many times have you heard those words before? I have a particular hatred for that phrase. I think it probably comes from years of sports and being yelled at. In high school, those words were yelled at my teammates and me as we ran under the hot Midwest sun in late August. It was preseason, and we had the joy of running outdoors to get “in shape” for the coming sports season.

I remember one particular day. We were running a long stretch. One of my team members jogged next to me. She looked at me as we jogged and asked, “How do you not stop? How do you keep going?” Confused, I looked at her. “What do you mean?” I asked. She said, “Everybody always stops and walks when they need to, but you never do. How do you keep going and not stop to walk?” Her question surprised me. I honestly don’t remember my response to her. It was probably something like, “I don’t want to get in trouble and have to run more.”

In Church Planting

I have thought about that question hundreds of times since then. I think about it when I’m pushing myself to keep jogging, and all I want to do is stop and walk. Sometimes I think about it when I am tired and want to go to bed, but I have a few more things to accomplish. Often I think about it in relation to church planting. The last few years of ministry have brought heartache and failed expectations. There have been countless times I wanted to just walk away from it all.

Too many Sundays with only a handful of people showing up for church, too many months without getting paid, too many hurtful comments from people, too many feelings of failure, and on and on the list goes. I’m sure people looking at our life would ask the same question my teammate asked so many years ago. “Why don’t you stop? Why do you keep going?” One gentleman at a church we were visiting said to my husband, “Most people would have given up by now.”

What was his response? What is my response? “We’re not most people.” While it is true, most people would have walked away by now, we have chosen to stay. We have chosen to continue in what God has called us to do. Why? Because we know this is God’s plan and purpose for our lives. More importantly, the reason we can keep going is that we have wrestled with knowing God’s plan for our lives.

In God’s Purpose

Matt and I have spent countless hours praying, reading our Bibles, journaling, talking to wise counselors, and talking to each other about God’s plan for our lives. We spent a lot of time working through the process I outlined in my last blog post. 6 Steps to Finding God’s Purpose for Your Life. I created a worksheet outlining the process we used. You can get it here. We’ve settled that we are to love and care for the people that God brings through the door of Greater Philly Church. We are both supposed to write. Matt’s newest book Breakthrough: Transforming the Death of Your Dream into the Birth of Your Breakthrough releases in a few weeks. I am currently writing a book. We both blog. Matt blogs at mattmanney.com. These are the things we know God wants us to do.

In the Future

How do we stick it out when what God has called us to becomes difficult or doesn’t look anything like we thought it would?

Hebrews 10:36 says, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (KJV)

The Message paraphrases it this way, “But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.”

What is the the promise? The answer is found in verse 37.

For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. (KJV)

The promise is that Jesus is coming again. When He does, all of our heartache and disappointments will be wiped away in the blink of an eye. We will receive vindication for all the wrongs we received. He will tell us, “Well done.”

3 Daily Choices that Keep Me from Quitting

After eight years of church planting, there are three things that I have learned that keep me from quitting.

1. Take it one day at a time. I just have to get through today. Don’t look at tomorrow or the next day. Figure out what I need to do for today.
2. Stay grateful. I write down several things I am grateful for every morning in my journal.
3. Choose joy. I once heard Rick Warren say, “Discouragement is a choice.” We have to choose not to be discouraged. If I don’t choose joy every day, the disappointments in life will pull me down.

In conclusion, I need to fulfill what God has called me to do. You need to fulfill what God has called you to do. Together, let’s develop some stick-it-out grit, so we can finish what we’ve started.