“Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about”——When I read this quote by Winston Churchill, I could almost see the pieces falling into place. I could see past mistakes, failures, and the urge to give up crash over me like a ton of bricks—painful and completely unexpected. How many times had I caved because of a temporary pleasure or emotion that came over me? How many times had I thrown in the towel because it was too hard and I wasn’t seeing immediate results? How many times had I given up because something stood in my way—time, schedule, to-do lists, laziness, life events, unworthiness? And be honest, if not with me, than with yourself: How many times had this happened to you too?
When I had read these words, something in my heart sprang to life, like there was an invisible electrical circuit between my heart and mind that that was jump-started. It made sense, and I was convicted. How many times had I quit on something that I really wanted and everyday I would think, “If only I had kept going with this…”
Almost two months ago, I decided I had enough. I had enough of coming up with “excuses” and allowing the devil to run the show. I told myself: “I’m a woman who doesn’t quit, and I am a child of a God who doesn’t quit either!” I gave over my excuses to God, and I became serious. I dedicated myself. I committed myself. And when those whispers started up in my head, I turned to the Word and my battle strategy journal to put those whispers to rest in the name of Jesus.
I know it’s not easy to make the time to consider the things that you have quit. Gosh, who can blame you for leaving all those regrets and disappointing moments in the past? But I really think this is something that can really help you to get over that bump, to think about you have quit so you can determine the reasons why you have quit, so you can start again with the right kind of mindset and motivation.
As an example, fitness and dedicatedly exercising is something that I have quit so many times since my son was born over two years ago. I went through phases in which I became determined to lose that weight, but if anything came up in my life that would throw off my schedule, I would let myself drift off. Before I knew it, I realized I gained all the weight back, leaving me discouraged and wanting to give up. In the beginning of August, I decided to sit down and really think about why I have quit this goal of mine so many times. Simply put, I hadn’t come up with enough reasons why I wanted to lose weight, so when life events would come up that threw my schedule off, I didn’t really have a good enough reason to keep going. I took some time to think about some great reasons why I wanted to reach this goal, and I told myself just losing weight couldn’t be one of the reasons. Thus, my fitness journey journal was born!
It’s been almost two months and I’m still going strong with this goal of mine that I have quit at least 10 times in the past. What changed? I learned to choose my dream and my goal over the temporary pleasures and temptations that challenged me to quit, whether a decrease in time, eating unhealthily, or not seeing immediate results. I chose to hand over my weaknesses to God, and asked Him to lift me up in areas I fell short. I chose to memorize motivational sayings that helped me push to be my very best, such as: “Running for 5 minutes is better than running for no minutes” and “If the only thing you can do is two laps around your block, do two laps around your block and be proud of that” ~Nike Run Club Global Head Coach, Chris Bennett. I learned that if I wanted to reach my end goal, I needed to learn to choose that over what my hormones and emotions wanted at the moment. I learned when to say “no!” And when to say “yes!”.
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Jesus has provided us the tools we need to be able to overcome any obstacle. By fixing our eyes on Him, we can see that obstacle as a challenge to overcome verses something we think we are doomed to fail. Let us run with perseverance! Let us run with the mindset that we are strong and we are capable of facing anything in our path!
The moment you’re ready to quit is usually the moment right before the miracle happens.
Are there dreams and goals in your life that you have quit? What is stopping you from starting again? Is there something you’d like to accomplish but fear you don’t have what it takes?
I know it’s so hard to commit when there is so much STUFF coming against you, but I encourage you, YOU have the power, the strength, and the courage to become a woman who doesn’t quit! Like the quote stated at the beginning of this post, never give up on [that dream, vision, passion, and goal] that you can’t go a day without thinking about. You have what it takes, and the areas you fall short, let Jesus lift you up 💪🏻
