Do you feel like giving up in some area of your life today? Before you quit, I encourage you to read these words about what to do when you feel like giving up . . .
When You Feel Like Giving Up
The cumulus clouds are stacked in a thick layer on the western horizon. I gaze at them from the room where I’m supposed to be writing inspiring words about life and God, but I’m too worn down to find a single thoughtful thing to say.
I’ve been seriously pursuing writing for years now.
This pursuit was exciting when I first stepped out in faith and let my words sail into the wide world. It felt risky and courageous. like something I had to trust God to accomplish. First steps can be like this. Your friends cheer for you, and the applause goads you forward.
But what about the fifty-thousandth step?
What’s the truth for when you’ve been putting one foot in front of another for so many years you lose count?
The exciting and scary dream becomes a part of the daily routine.
Encouragement for When You Feel Like Giving Up
The slow birth of your dream doesn’t typically feel like you think it’s going to feel. When you’re on the fifty-thousandth step, it’s easy to start thinking maybe you made the whole thing up.
You start to wonder if maybe you never heard from God in the first place.
Perhaps this life you’ve created for yourself was carved from your ambition and passion. Maybe God’s just waiting for you to throw in the towel.
Maybe.
These are considerations worth exploring.
But maybe the worn-down drudgery of your tenth year of quietly doing that thing you believe God has called you to do is working something out in your heart. Maybe it’s God’s way of seeing if you have the endurance necessary to carry the dream to its fullness.
Are you confident God is in this work? Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Trust he is working in the obscurity of your daily grind.
God might be doing one of these works in your heart while you work through your weariness:
1. When you feel like giving up, God is softening your rough edges.
We all have rough edges. We need our Maker to shape us, soften us, and mold us to look more like him.
I wish God did the formative soul-work on the mountaintops of victory because maybe there would be more mountaintops. Contrary to my desires, God does most of his transforming work in the valleys of life. He shapes us in the seasons of darkness and obscurity. He molds us in the quiet and unseen realm of the daily grind.
God is softening you here, friend. He is molding you to look more like him. Keep going.
2. God builds your endurance when you are worn down.
Marathon runners know what it is to build endurance. They start training with relatively few miles, and by the end of their training, they are heading out on 20-mile runs.
The worn-down seasons of everyday life build our endurance.
I often take my kids for walks. They begin complaining about their aching legs, and I tell them this is where they’re building new muscle.
The same is true for our everyday lives. When we keep pushing through the monotony and weariness of worn-down seasons, God strengthens us. We become people who can gut it out when the going gets tough.
3. God tests your resolve when you are weary.
God doesn’t tempt us, but he does test us. The worn-down seasons of the daily grind test us to see if we will keep going when the platform grows and the territory expands. God is testing you in the daily grind, but it is a loving test, a test that is for your good and for his glory.
4. God extends an invitation when you feel like giving up.
God believes in you. He believes in you the way a proud father believes in his child. He looks upon you with eyes of love and compassion. God thinks kind thoughts about you. He calls you the apple of his eye.
Because God loves you unconditionally, he longs to partner with you. He invites you to bring your weary and burdened self to him, take his yoke upon your shoulders, and learn to live lighter.
You will never long for a lighter way of living if you never come to the end of yourself.
Learn to stay in step with the Lord, and he will invite you into a way of living that is restful on a soul level, even in the most strenuous kinds of work. He will lead you to a place of deep peace, even in the middle of the most grueling kind of fire.
As for me, I turn my gaze away from the window. I settle behind the white screen. It feels like the millionth day in this spot. Nonetheless, I write the next word. Every journey begins with one small step, but the same holds true for the weary middle of the journey: One small step at a time.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Stacey Pardoe
Featured Image by Unsplash
Comments are closed.