I cringed when I saw him run into that tree.
Poor thing.
Our youngest son Kaleb was riding his bike over the weekend and got caught up looking behind him.
He didn’t even know he was about to crash until he did. It happened so fast that I didn’t have the opportunity to yell up the street to warn him.
“Look at my scratches on my leg,” he said, limping over to me.
He was left with a few very minor scrapes. Thankfully, the skin on Kaleb’s right leg wasn’t broken. Still, he was banged up enough to feel the pain.
Nevertheless, less than five minutes passed before our resilient little guy hopped back on his bicycle and resumed riding.
Seeing him take that hit like a champ reminded me of when I was a young girl just learning to ride a bike.
One afternoon, my father was teaching me by holding on to the back of my seat long enough to get me going. Then he’d let go.
After several minutes went by, I looked back and discovered I was riding on my own. Dad had released me and I didn’t fall. It was a proud moment. I had stepped into my “big girl” shoes and was ready to go for it.
That is, until I saw myself headed straight toward a pole at full speed.
Although I should have stopped, I guess I was both too inexperienced and nervous to calmly think of a solution like hitting the brakes immediately.
But instead of squeezing the brakes on the handlebars of my sister’s pink and gray Huffy, or pushing the pedal backward with my feet, I kept going forward.
Not surprisingly, I slammed into that solid wood pole, flew off the bike and ate gravel.
Unlike Kaleb, however, I didn’t recover so quickly mentally. That fall traumatized me and I didn’t get back on a bicycle for a long time after that.
Embarrassingly, I was an adult by the time I learned to ride, because I let fear hold me hostage for years.
Friend, in life, you can’t quit because something is proving to be more difficult than you thought. You cannot run away simply because you failed or fell. Get back up and use the experience as a lesson to propel you to the next level.
While I’ll admit that it is wise to walk away from some things, your divine destiny isn’t one of them.
Discomfort and difficulty is not a reason to give up on your purpose.
In the Kingdom of God, checking out and running from the hard stuff is not an option.
When you are called, chosen and anointed, the road will get rough. But even when you feel fatigued and depleted, God has a way of lighting a fire in you so strong, that you won’t be able to throw in the towel.
This reminds me of Jeremiah 20:9.
In this passage of scripture, we find the man of God in a state of weariness. He had been sharing the Lord’s message as he was instructed to, but it seemed like no one was listening to him. Even though the prophet Jeremiah was doing exactly what God told him to do, he wasn’t seeing any results.
In the 8th verse of the 20th chapter of Jeremiah, the prophet said, “For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, because for me the word of the LORD has resulted in reproach and derision all day long.”
In other words, Jeremiah was expressing how his faithfulness to the will of God caused him to be mocked and disliked. The divine words he shared were not well received. He felt miserable and dejected.
The Bible lets us know that he was frustrated to the point of regretting that God even called him.
At his lowest point, he became resolved to no longer speak the word of God. He didn’t want to occupy the prophetic office anymore.
As anointed as Jeremiah was, he felt ready to cut his losses, abandon his ministry and start a new life.
But God never told Jeremiah, just as He never told us, that things would be easy. He absolutely did not promise that our journey toward the fulfillment of our purpose would be pain-free, discouragement-free, rejection-free, setback-free and difficulty-free.
Actually, God guaranteed that we would have trouble, but also, that we would have victory through Him.
So how did Jeremiah get out of the valley of despair and shake out of this funk he was in?
The Bible shows us in the latter half of verse 9. It says, “His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”
God lit a fire in Jeremiah's soul that was so intense, he could not smother it. It compelled him to go on.
Today, if you have been feeling discouraged, I’m believing God to reignite your passion, strengthen your desire for His will, restore your joy and build your faith.
I pray that your desire for divine destiny will become like a fire shut up in your bones, demanding that everything God has deposited in you be released.
You’ve been through a lot, but I sense that God is giving you your passion back. He’s building you up again.
But you’ve got to be willing to say, “God, I want Your will more than I want my comfort.” With that attitude, You can truly see Him work in your life.
Once you get desperate to see God’s presence, power and purpose activated, you will be unstoppable. By His grace, you will press on through the opposition and push through every obstacle.
To help get you in the right frame of mind, I’m stirring a portion of a prayer found in Hebrews 13:21 NIV into your cup of inspiration. It says, may God “equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, if you receive this word, I believe your fire and passion for the things of God will be ignited all the more.
As you open your heart to His will, you will receive renewed strength and an infusion of everything you need spiritually to walk out God’s will.
I rebuke discouragement and declare that you will complete the assignment you were born to fulfill.
You will not quit.
You will make it.
God has ordained it to be so.
Now let’s pray.
God, even though everything isn’t going right in my life, I refuse to give into discouragement, fear and frustration. I ask that You renew my strength and give me a greater desire to push through adversity to attain my predestined purpose. Thank You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may today's cup of inspiration uplift, encourage, and empower you!
If you need prayer, don't hesitate to request it. I would be honored to stand in faith with you. I know that prayer works. CLICK HERE to learn how to submit your prayer request.
