What Happens When We Give Up Too Early?

I'll be honest, I've wanted to give up on Sandalfeet Ministries over the past year. There, I said it out loud so the devil knows his doings can't hide in the dark anymore. I've been plugging along with Sandalfeet for close to eight years now. I've seen lots of fruit from it, but sometimes, it just seems a bit unnecessary...I mean, have you seen how many blogs are out there today and how many podcasts there are? I'm just but one fish in a very big pond.

However, I know God needs this fish in that pond for a reason. It's why I have kept going with Sandalfeet. On the days when it seems like it is going nowhere, nobody is reading or listening, and the costs, oh the costs, BUT THEN, God drops huge nuggets of opportunity on me that I had no idea were coming.

For instance, recently Books-a-Million called me out of the blue and asked if they could carry my Advent devotional, Simplify the Season, in one of their brick-and-mortar stores in New Jersey. This is huge! It will be the first time one of my books has made its way into a large brick-and-mortar store! They've guaranteed a certain number of books they are going to purchase and get this, they are going to be making all of the promotional material and sending it out to their email distribution list. Only God!

I also recently got another unsolicited opportunity. It came from the editor of the Atlanta Christian Voice. She recently read my new book, Spiritual Orphans, and she wanted to write about it. You can read the interview by clicking HERE.

I don't write any of these things to brag. I write them to give glory to God. He's the One who set these opportunities into motion. I wasn't looking for them, but what would I have missed had I closed up shop on Sandalfeet? More importantly, who would have not heard about the hope and love of Jesus because I ended my part of the story too soon?

On my website, my tag line has always been, "Never Give Up Hope on Being Part of God's Plan." I've had to revisit this in my own life and calling.

We see it every day. People quitting the ministry. People leaving their spouses. People quitting jobs. And sadly, people ending their lives. People give up because things get hard, aren’t what they were supposed to be, or have simply lost interest. However, when we end our story before our story is supposed to end, we name ourselves as the author and no longer recognize God as the ultimate Author. When we decide what stops and starts and when, we put ourselves, our desires, our limits at the forefront instead of allowing God to show up, provide, and write the final story.

As tough as it is, we must keep going. This doesn’t just apply to suicide.* This also applies to those who give up on callings, relationships, pursuits, people…anything you feel like God ordained in the beginning, but then became too hard, too boring, riddled with challenges, whatever the case may be. Although God can make our failures and stops into good for His people and His glory (Romans 8:28), it isn’t always the story God wanted to be written.

I was reminded during a sermon a friend preached recently that “sometimes we complain about the things someone else is begging for.” Maybe we begged for something from God. We got it, but then we got tired of or lost interest in the thing we asked for. It makes me think of when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness. They’d complain, God would provide, and they’d complain again. It went on and on.

What we need to do in the complaining moments, the hard moments, the uncertain moments is to take a step back and have a conversation with God. I’ve kept a prayer journal for the past several years. Some prayers I look at now and think, “What was I thinking?!?!?” and other times it makes me remember the start. Putting tough things in a Jesus-centered perspective helps me make sense of it. It’s also what people did throughout the Bible to help push God’s story along. When we read about those who did some things for the Kingdom that had they stopped midway through their task, the narrative would have looked a lot different for them, the people around them, and for you and me today.

• I think of the chosen ones. What if they hadn’t left Egypt when Pharaoh finally said, “Go!”? (Exodus 12:31)

• What if the people had thought marching around Jericho five times was enough? Or on the last day, only five times was enough instead of seven? What if they had tried to take the city without doing what God had said to do? (Joshua 6) Rahab and her family were rescued in Joshua 6:23–25. What if she had died that day instead? Rahab is in the lineage of Jesus Christ.

• What if Ruth hadn’t gone with her mother-in-law, Naomi? What if she hadn’t sought out work in someone’s field? What if she hadn’t desired God to be her God? (Book of Ruth) Remember, Ruth is also in the lineage of Jesus.

• What if Mary hadn’t kept the baby she found herself pregnant with? What if she feared for her life and aborted the baby instead?

• What if Peter hadn’t come to his senses and continued to deny he knew Christ? (Matthew 16:18) Where would the Church be today?

• What if Saul had kept on killing Christians as opposed to becoming a Christian? (Acts 9)

Every single scenario above could have had a different ending if the person gave up too early. Not one of these examples had anything easy about it. All their callings were hard. What might have started out looking promising became difficult, and often impossible, without relying on God to show up and provide. It is no different for you and me. We aren’t promised easy but we must live with confident hope. If God called you to it, He will see you through it. Don’t write the ending to your own story. Let the Author do that for you.




^{*If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please get help. Talk to a pastor, a friend, a spouse, a counselor…someone who has your best interests at heart. Talking about it exposes the cruelty of it all. I can’t, nor can anyone else, guarantee the pain will go away, but you are worth living your full life, not ending it before it is meant to be over. God loves you and cares for you and does not want you to harm the beautiful creation He made that is you. If you don’t have anyone to talk to right now, please call the suicide help hotline. Their number is 800-273-TALK (8255). If you visit their website, there is also a live chat option.}