Today I’m not so sure if I heard anything from God. But I did hear something from someone I love, and I believe that God can also speak through the ones we love.
This one was from Lynnie.
Sassy girl has been living up her unemployed, hasn’t-started-school yet, life by spending almost every day fishing. I kid you not, when I text her and ask her what she’s doing she always responds back with either a “I’m fishing” or “I’m on my way to go fish” or “Fishing later with friends”. But for someone who has gone fishing as frequently as she has been, sis has hardly caught a thing.
So last night I told her that she picked a hobby that she’s terrible at. And sassy girl told me, “Just cause you’re good at something doesn’t mean it’s fun. And just cause you suck at something doesn’t mean it’s not fun!” She enjoys doing it, so she keeps going.
Then today I get a text message of sassy girl smiling from ear to ear holding up the fish she just caught with the message, “If I had given up yesterday, I wouldn’t have seen this today.” Then fifteen minutes later, another picture of her with another fish she caught. And ten minutes after that, a third picture with the third fish she caught today.
If sis had given up yesterday- after I teased her and told her she was terrible- she wouldn’t have seen what she was lucky enough to catch today.
Giving up is the easy part. You’re saying no to the challenging thing that’s standing in your way. You’re stopping yourself from feeling the disappointment. And you can quit putting in effort for something that is reaping very little reward. Having to keep going is the hard part. It’s a commitment to trudge through the mud even though you’re covered in dirt and filth. It’s choosing the “what if” over the “what I can see right now”. And it’s believing in something you can’t even guarantee will happen.
Choosing to keep going is more enjoyable when life is smooth sailing. Of course we want to keep going when things are all sunshine and rainbows. But when the storm hits, what will we choose? Because sooner or later, the storm will hit, and we will have to decide.
If I give up now, I won’t be able to experience the full potential of what God can do for me tomorrow. Because today He did great things, but when I intentionally choose Him, He does great things over and over and over again. And at first it might not be easy. I might completely suck at it. Messing up, making mistakes, not following God. But the more and more I live out my faith and seek out to live like Jesus, the more second nature it becomes. The more I fill my life with Jesus, the more Jesus will seep through every crevice of my being.
So, I don’t want to give up today, because I don’t know what God has in store for me tomorrow. What if tomorrow is the day that everything comes together? What if tomorrow is the day I have been praying for all along? What if the blessing and the reward and the promise is a lot closer than I can imagine, but because my sight is so limited and Satan is fighting so hard, I could lose it all in a matter of moments. Instead of giving up, I’m going to keep going, because I enjoy discovering the life that God is unfolding before me.