Tag Archives: stick with it

Peach Picking and Sticking with It

Peach Picking in Lancaster

two girls with peaches — Maggie and Macey on the wagon with our peaches

We had an amazing day yesterday. We got to go peach picking at a farm in Lancaster yesterday. Well, first we had to play on the giant hay bales; then we went peach picking.

I’ve never been peach picking before. I thought it would be similar to apple picking, but it was a little different.

When we go apple picking, we hit a few trees and get more apples than our box can hold. It doesn’t take very long. When we went peach picking, however, it took much longer. The peaches were much harder to find and were few and far between. We might walk past three or four trees before we would find a peach hiding in there.

The peaches are amazing, so much better than the ones from the grocery store! They’re beautiful and so flavorful and juicy. We cut up a bunch of them and froze them for smoothies and for baking, and this morning I made a peach crumble for the first time.

peach crumble — Peach Crumble: I took out some before I remembered to take a picture

Enjoying the Fruit of Somebody’s Hard Work

I got to thinking about the peaches and the peach trees and all the work that has gone into that little piece of paradise we got to enjoy yesterday. The trees gave us shade and brought relief from the hot sun. The peaches were fun to pick but are also going to provide great snacks and desserts.

Somebody spent hours and hard work and sweat to produce what we got to partake in yesterday. All we had to do was show up, walk around a little, and pick a few peaches. We got to enjoy the fruit of somebody else’s labor. (literally)

Working at Our Craft

For so many of us, that’s sort of the way life is. We work so hard at our craft or at our job. Somebody shows up to partake in our work. They spend a few minutes engaging with our life’s work or business, and then they move on. It’s simply a transaction for them. For us, however, it’s our life’s work. It’s a representation of our blood, sweat, and tears. It represents our dreams and goals and aspirations. It’s a showing of everything we’ve sacrificed to get to where we are today. Yet to others, it’s simply an experience, a product, a sampling. They will enjoy it and move on.

As an author and blogger, I spend so much time writing. I pour myself into my work, run on little sleep, race against deadlines, try to keep up with everything, and give everything I’ve got into my writing, my books, my blog, and my other products. Then somebody comes along and buys one of my books, spends a few hours reading it (or doesn’t finish it) and leaves a review for how well they think I did. They move on with their life. Meanwhile, I’m still there working on the next book, giving everything I’ve got to make it the best it can be and to get it out on time.

Building Resentment

If I’m not careful, this entire process builds resentment. It creates feelings of frustration and annoyance. I can get pulled down into thinking I’m not good enough; I’m a failure. I can get frustrated with people who didn’t live up to my expectations.

Living like this is exhausting and frustrating. I’ve got to learn to treat it like some farmer in Lancaster does. He works the ground, grows the trees, produces the fruit and doesn’t get an ounce of credit for his or her work. Why do they keep doing it then? For the joy it brings to others. Because this is what God created them to do, and they feel incredible fulfillment in living out their purpose.

Stick with It

I don’t know what Your purpose is, but I want to encourage you not to give up on it. Don’t get weary and discouraged and walk away because you feel like nobody is noticing. Here’s the thing: they are noticing. You made somebody’s day today, because you showed up and did your thing. I had an amazing experience with my family because somebody has been taking care of those peach trees.

I rolled out a book this week. It hasn’t gone crazy; my books never do. If I’m not careful, I get discouraged and want to give up. Yet this week, I received this text from one of my readers.

Book 2 might be my favorite book you have written so far. I definitely love this new series!

That was enough to put wind in my sails and remind me of why I’m doing what I’m doing.

Don’t Quit

I say all that to say this: whatever you’re doing, working at, creating, performing, serving…Keep at it. Keep showing up and doing what you do best. Continue to create the best product or service you can. Don’t give up even though you may not see the fruit of your labor.

I can guarantee you that there are people who absolutely love what you are doing or creating, and they would be lost without it. So keep drawing, writing, serving, baking, creating, caring for, tending…keep on doing whatever it is you do that makes you, you. Because there’s somebody out there that needs you to keep doing it.

For More Encouragement

For more encouragement, read my post Don’t Give Up on the Dream God has Given You or check out Matt’s book, Breakthrough: Transforming the Death of a Dream to the Birth of a Breakthrough.

Understanding the Process God Takes Us Through

Teaching Reading

When I first started homeschooling, my oldest was in kindergarten. I thought it would be a breeze. After all, it’s kindergarten. How hard can it be? Well, in two words. Very hard. I didn’t realize how crazy I would become trying to teach him to read. I was so discouraged with it. No matter how many things I tried, he just didn’t get it.

The only thing that kept me from switching curriculums a hundred times was the constant advice I heard from Sarah Mackenzie from Read-Aloud Revival. She kept saying, just let the process work. Give your kids a love for books, and the reading will come in time.

So, I did that. Fast forward a few years. Now Malachi is in fifth grade, and we can hardly keep him stocked with books. Now, I’m working with our third daughter who is learning to read and is still struggling. But I’m not worried, because I know that if I just let the process work, she will be fine. It may not be this year or next year, but at some point, everything will come together for her and she will be able to read fluently.

God’s Process to Develop Us

God is a God of systems and structure and order, so it shouldn’t surprise us that He has a process He takes each of us through. That process is found in Romans 5.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 4:3-5 KJV

The New Living Bible puts it this way…

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. Then, when that happens, we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that all is well, for we know how dearly God loves us, and we feel this warm love everywhere within us because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Romans 5:3-5 TLB

Let’s look at the process in greater detail.

1. Tribulation

First, the problem or trial comes. It may be the loss of a job, a sickness, the loss of a loved one, financial stress, the betrayal of a friend. We all have problems and trials come into our lives. It shouldn’t surprise us. This is the first step of God’s plan to get us to a point where we are completely confident in Him. Certainly, enduring hardships helps us to develop patience.

2. Patience

Without the trial, we wouldn’t mature and grow; we wouldn’t develop the patience required to get to the next step. Learning to endure the trial, to not give up and quit, to not lose faith in the midst of life’s hardest moments develops grit in us and gives us experience.

3. Experience

Learning to endure helps us to grow in our experience. It’s been often said, “A faith not tested is a faith not trusted.” All of us want to be mature, experienced Christians. We want to help others endure their trials and give others encouragement, yet most of us don’t want to have to go through the process of gaining that experience. However, gaining that experience is what gives us hope.

4. Hope

Gaining hope means we’ve been tested, we developed patience and stuck it out, gained experience along the way, and that fills us with the hope that we can do that with the next trial God sends our way. Moreover, we can also be a light of hope to others still in this process. This hope that we have deep inside of us helps us to not be ashamed.

5. Not Ashamed

Once we’ve made it through this process, we can hold our head high in confidence in God’s absolute goodness and working in our lives. We revel in His love for us, that He has worked on our behalf. We begin to understand just how much He loves us. That confidence we take with us into the next problem or trial God sends into our life, and subsequently, the process starts all over once again.

Where are You at in the Process?

We have the “cheat sheet” to understanding how God works in our lives. Instead of just being in the dark, confused, and hurt by God’s allowing something to happen in our lives, we can see exactly where we are at in the process and see what it is God is trying to work in us right now.

Where are you at in the process right now? Has a huge problem come crashing into your life? Did something happen that you just didn’t see coming? Or are you just trying to endure right now? Are you in the developing patience part of the process? Have you entered the experience stage? Are you learning what God wants you to learn and growing in your faith? Have you reached the stage where hope begins to finally bloom? Do you finally see God at work and feel His love? Have you just come out of a trial and better understand God’s goodness and love towards you?

Wherever you are at in the process, take hope in the fact that it’s all part of God’s plan. Know there is an end in sight. Above all, don’t give up. Stick with the process. As a result, you will gain patience, experience, and hope. Subsequently, that hope will make you step confidently into what God has for you because you better understand His incredible love for you.

Lastly, for more encouragement on this topic, read Developing a Faith That’s Strong Enough to Stand On.

Stick It Out: 3 Daily Choices to Prevent Quitting

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.

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.
Stay grateful. I write down several things I am grateful for every morning in my journal.
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.

Faithfully Stepping

Encouragement for Women on their Journey of Faith