Never Give Up

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This week, I came really close to stopping blogging.

All the Stuff!

There was no single reason why. It was just a culmination of stuff. Spending all the time, energy and money on the blog and seeing no returns. I was basically throwing a pity party for myself and asking, “Why bother?” and contemplating just stopping.

Actually, I have been wanting to stop blogging for a long while now. This feeling ebbs and flows. But the feeling has been unusually strong the past few weeks, especially after the 31 Days of Seeing God in the Everyday Challenge I did in October.

And every time I feel this way (I started back in 2006), God would graciously send me encouragement through readers and friends. Sometimes though, He would gently rebuke me for my poor attitude. And I’d go back to writing and publishing, week after week.

Plodding Along

So this is where I was – just plodding along. I guess people are reading but it is hard to gauge if you are being helpful or just adding to the noise when there is no feedback. And so I was basically wallowing in my own pity party.

Blogging is Not Easy

Just in case you are wondering, it isn’t easy to write and post weekly unless one is a professional blogger. And that is because they have paid help. Be it via a virtual assistant, their tech-savvy husband or a team of colleagues. Blogging looks easy. But let me tell you straight – it is not. (Neither is YouTubing by the way.)

Writing takes up a lot of time and energy. And once the post is written, I need to spend time sourcing for relevant and nice photos. And then more time is needed to edit both the post and the photos. Remember my Scan, Skim and Jump Around post? No one has time for rambly articles. Everyone is a skimmer nowadays.

And finally, I need to rev up my guts to share it on social media which is a fickle monster. As I post, I am always wondering: will people find my posts helpful? Or am I merely adding more fluff to the internet? In other words, have I wasted my time writing, editing and posting it?

And then there is the financial cost. Paying for a domain name, a hosting company, and an email subscription service to allow me to send out emails and newsletters without being marked as spam.

Whine, whine, whine.

Because God

Honestly, the only reason I am still blogging is because of God. He told me to start it back in 2005 [read How This Blog Got Started] and to blog with more intention in 2016. And so far, God has not released me from this assignment.

Should I push on? Deep down I know I would. Because God. I am very clear that sharing and encouraging mothers is what God told me to do. But I was still feeling very sian about it? (sian = Singlish for that sense of ennui).

Bad Attitude

I was having a bad attitude towards this assignment from the Lord. I was behaving the way my children occasionally do when I ask them to do a chore they don’t want to do.

Sure, mama, I will wipe the table/wash the dishes/put away the laundry. But I’m gonna do it any-oh-how, with minimum effort. And with a sour face. Just so that you know I really don’t want to do it.

^^^ THAT was my attitude.

Sure, God, I will continue to blog. But mind you, I am just going to do the bare minimum.

^^^ I was the child obeying outwardly but seething with rebellion inwardly.

Not good.

Obedience not Sacrifice

Yes, I know that God desires obedience not sacrifice. I know that being obedient to God’s call should be enough. I know that He sees what I’m doing. But, it is still depressing to put in hours of work and energy and get crickets.

So while I know I should keep on writing and publishing posts and God will send whom He would send to read them, I was feeling lonely. And unappreciated. I guess I ought to go back and read my own post about Feeling Unappreciated, huh? So I wanted to quit.

God Spoke

And then, God spoke.

Twice.

Once through Christa Hutchins of Do A New Thing. Three words in her newsletter jumped out at me while I was in the midst of my pity party. As I told her, it is surely a God-thing because, like you, I mostly glance through such emails, click on interesting links and then delete the email.

But I did not with hers. After I read and clicked through, I did not delete it. Instead, I was prompted me to re-read her email the next day. And as I read it, it was like God had highlighted one particular paragraph, and even underlined the last three words for me.

Never Give Up

She wrote,

“Whatever your mission, your online ministry is just as important as ours. God has entrusted you with it and it is too big for you to let it die. So never give up.”

NEVER GIVE UP. 

I teared. My little online ministry is important to God. He has entrusted me with it. Stop the pity party and get on with it, girl!

I wrote back to Christa to thank her for being God’s mouthpiece. (BTW, you should totally do that whenever you have been blessed by someone online. #justsaying) And in turn, she said I made her cry. Women! Lol! 😀

And then, two days after, during my Quiet Time in the Book of John Chapter 14, God spoke again.

Obedience

Was He clear or was He clear?

If I say I love Jesus then I must do what He says (obedience). And what He says comes from God the Father, Himself.

Just in case you are wondering, His commandments or His word, can refer to His word, as found in His book, the Bible. Or it can also refer to a personal rhema word; what He tells each of us to do, our assignment from Him.

No Quitting

I got the memo indeed!

No giving up and no blogging in an any-oh-how way. And since I say I love Him then I need to obey His word to me. And be cheerful about it too!

He has given me this assignment and has not released me from it. I need to get over myself and stop looking for affirmation from the world.

So here I am; posting yet another article and praying that it encourages you to not give up doing His work, to not give up obeying His word, even if it seems futile and pointless from your point of view.

Truly, obedience is better than sacrifice.

What About You?

Is there an assignment He has given to you to do and you are feeling so overwhelmed by it or so sian about it that you are about to throw in the towel?

Is it Time to Move On? Or is it Time to Press On?

Friend, I don’t know what assignment the Lord has given to you and what your struggles with it are. But I know that with God, obedience is always better than sacrifice.

Before you throw in the towel, go back to the Lord and ask Him how you are to proceed with it. Ask Him if it is time to move on or time to press on.

Certain assignments have a fixed season, others not. Certain ways of doing our assignment may change with the seasons. While we want to seek godly counsel; remember that in the end, we must go back to God to ask Him what He wants us to do and how He wants it accomplished No shortcuts.

Holy Spirit Empowerment

What if you know that you’re to press on but feel inadequate and burnt out? Let us remember that we have the Holy Spirit in us! He will empower us!

Have you been running on your own power? I confess that that is my default mode. Especially in things I have been doing for a while. I tend to go on auto-pilot. But that is actually a sure-fire way to guarantee a burnout. God’s assignments must be done God’s way.

Instead, let us look at the verses before and after what Jesus says about keeping His word and commandments.

We have a Helper, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. We’re not alone. He will teach us. He will help us. He will even comfort us. So take heart if you’re feeling weak and starting to feel burnt out like I was (and still am a little!). Take a break if you must but never give up! Let us press on with the assignments he has given to us with Holy Spirit power, not our own strength or wisdom.

And remember, the assignment we have needs to be fulfilled until He releases us from it, regardless of how we feel.

Press On and Never Give Up

So Friend, as Christa encouraged me, let me encourage you in your assignment from the Lord:

Let us press on and never give up even when we seem to see no traction in what He’s called us to do because obedience is better than sacrifice. (1 Samuel 15:22)

Now go in His power! Be a blessing to the people around us!

Related Posts

How this Blog Got Started
Be Faithful in Fulfilling God’s Assignment For You
Forget About the Numbers: Being Faithful in the Little Things
Obedience
31 Days of Seeing God in the Everyday: Final Week
Feeling Unappreciated

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