Chapter 6
Take Cover
Quiet quitters seem to have this large target on their back titled Discouragement.Here are some signs quiet quitters may still need to work through their character a little more to match the calling God has for them.
Sign 1: Excuses become their attire of the day.
They start thinking of them the night before, carefully crafting the perfect-way-out explanation. Excuses are their detour around the movement of God. Left unexposed, excuses will one day become the covers for the bed of regret they find themselves lying in.
My problem with this is that I commit before asking God if it's His plan or man's.. when it's man's I lose my since of peace.
Sign 2: They stop responding to e-mails, phone calls, and text messages about their commitments.
The commitment starts to feel like it’s just not worth their time anymore. They’ve already quit in their heart so they wonder why they should bother communicating about it anymore.
Sign 3: Attendance at meetings surrounding their commitment becomes less frequent.
Sign 4: They pull back from being around other people who ask too many questions.
The last thing they want is one more person to ask how “that” is going.
Psalm 55: 22: Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. Please don’t underestimate the power of this word sustain.
This has been a powerful verse for me this week..
...Mercy is a fresh supply of strength.
Quiet quitters have a genuine spirit of meekness and often put others before themselves. But often their excuses are concealed as godliness. They are afraid to fight for what’s right because of the fear that it will be taken the wrong way. Big personalities intimidate them, and hard situations just make them want to crawl up in a corner.
But when a quiet quitter whispers a See-Over Prayer of, “God, see over me to sustain me,” something happens. The urge to quit begins to flee, and all of a sudden something changes.
It's not to late
I really liked her football comparison.. "just when we thought the game was over, it wasn’t. Someone would call a time-out, go into overtime, and score the winning, unforeseen touchdown.
I keep getting these time outs, but it's NOT over.. keep looking up and keep renewing my mind!
God is the best with the “expect the unexpected” rulings of the game! In other words, He's not looking at the scale or what I ate all week, He's looking at the HERE and NOW!
When the quiet quitter starts to rise up in you, remember this: nothing and no one can threaten your purpose in God. The game’s not over; it’s just running into a little overtime. Healthy eating is not a diet program.. it's about obeying God [honoring God] one bite at a time.. it's acknowledging Him and not being gluttonous or greedy. It's about the Spiritual Life, not how do I look on the outside.
Just like it almost feels natural for me to fall asleep with closed fists, it will feel natural to want to control our circumstances around us. Disappointments will make it easier for us to close our fists to God. I close my fist by.. to often I make my health be about my size.. what the scale says, what size clothing I'm in, I make it be about fitting in, looking good.. chasing after the same goals as the world does. It's like closing my fist.. not seeing how it should be about spiritual growth. The world tells us we have to look a certain way, be a certain size.. but, the people who are important to me love me as I am [mainly, my husband] but, even God loves me.. HE sees beyond size.. DO I? I can have peace in this area of my life if I cling to what it's really about.. it's not about my size.. it's about loving God, honoring Him before greed and gluttony.
A woman whose fists are closed toward the presence of God will often miss:
- The opportunity for God to bless her.
- The chance for God to use her.
- The ability of God to expand her faith and trust in Him
God doesn’t meet us at perfection. He meets us where we are in our process toward receiving His promises.
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