The Come Up
I think everyone has hit that road block in their faith where they’re just standing there wondering; where is God? Seems like all the pieces are in order, the puzzle’s finally come together but nothing’s happened.
You’ve got everything lined up for that promotion but you’re STILL passed over.
You’re ready to open your new business but then the bank denies the loan you needed.
You just picked out the house of your dreams but then its suddenly sold to someone else.
Step back and take a look at yourself. You’ve been paying your tithes, giving honest offerings, keeping up in prayer, never miss a church service, and you even take the time to attend those lengthy prayer meetings every other Sunday. So after all this, when things STILL don’t work out your way, you’re just left scratching your head.
Trust me when I say this; I feel your pain.
Let me say this now. This is not a how-to article that will explain how to get God to answer your prayers a little faster or how to get Jesus to pass some of them blessings your way. This is an article that will share how to keep pushing forward when it feels like you’re walking in place.
As an author, my career is left totally up to chance. I could never get signed with a publisher and end up living with my parents for the rest of my sad life. OR I could become a best-selling author and sell more copies than The Holy Bible. It all depends.
I have the faith that Jesus will bless me in my career. He’s already given me so much, so why not believe? A year ago I never would’ve imagined I’d be posting this article on my own website! But here I am and here you are, reading away. Still, I have those moments where the room feels too small and my palms feel too sweaty. Suddenly I realize I’m 23 and virtually making no money because, guess what? —I’m not a bestselling author.
So how, after years of writing and pouring my heart into my laptop do I keep going when, really, all the cards are lined up against me?
What do you do when you’re at the end of your rope?
Tie a knot and hold on.
For me, it feels like there’s not even enough rope left to tie a knot. But I’ll claw with my fingernails if I have to. Why? Because God doesn’t make quitters.
Moses didn’t quit.
Noah didn’t quit.
Esther didn’t quit.
Jesus didn’t quit.
I don’t have the right to quit. I may not have been given the assignment to lead a nation to the Promise Land, or to build an ark and repopulate the earth. Jesus didn’t tell me his plan to help save the Jews from my increasingly tyrannical husband, nor did he ask me to let a mob of angry religious followers nail me to a cross and stab me in the ribs.
He just told me to write a book. A simple book that only a handful of people have ever heard of, even less have read. But I wrote it anyway, and I continue to write each and every day. Why? Because I believe in the Word of God.
“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith…” Romans 12:6 KJV
“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10 KJV
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV
“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11 KJV
These few scriptures sum up everything I have to say on this topic.
Each of us on this earth has a gift. We have been given a talent from Jesus Christ specifically designed to help us with the task He has assigned to us. Keeping that in mind, Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us that there is a certain time set aside for us to accomplish this task given by God and Isaiah 55:10-11 explains that no matter what that assignment is, if God said it will be done—then know that it WILL be done.
In other words, God told you to start a business? God gave you the desire to go back to college? Did God tell you to write a book, too?
Then know and understand right now, it will come to pass. Your business may not be as successful as you might have thought, you might struggle through college, and you might spend ten years searching before you find a publisher. But God sees that you have not given up. He sees all the effort you’ve put in and that will not go ignored.
So when it all seems worthless and you feel like maybe you heard God wrong. That’s when you keep going, even better—that’s when you go harder.
Never, ever give up.