<\/h2>\n

\n

JAMES 1:12<\/strong><\/h2>\n

12\u00a0<\/sup>Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial\u00a0because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life\u00a0that the Lord has promised to those who love him.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When my childhood church built a new sanctuary, all the kiddos got to go in and write verses on the concrete foundation. I was twelve at the time. James 1:12 is what I scribbled in permanent marker in a corner of the would-be \u201cbridal suite\u201d (at my mom\u2019s suggestion\u2026oh boy).<\/p>\n

That verse in James was most fitting for me, the future valedictorian. I loved the word \u201cpersevere\u201d\u2014the sharpness of it on my tongue and the idea of rough and ready diligence that could take me anywhere.<\/p>\n

\n

JAMES 1:5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

5\u00a0<\/sup>If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God,\u00a0who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But what I did not know and what took DECADES to learn is where to invest that perseverance. If I had scanned upwards to verse five, I would have seen that before perseverance must come wisdom, otherwise, I am Samuel chasing after all the meaningless things (insert: unfulfilling career at a publishing company, scrolling through Facebook for upwards of an hour, that miserable Iron Fist<\/em>\u00a0Marvel spinoff on Netflix).<\/p>\n

This is still my habit\u2014that ingrained need to finish what I\u2019ve started even when I know, I just know,<\/em> it is the wrong thing to pursue. And the world tells us that determination and this kind of pushing beyond all limits will result in excellence, in the kind of euphoria that only comes from getting to the top of the mountain. But sometimes it’s the wrong mountain.<\/p>\n

God calls us to leave some things unfinished.<\/h1>\n

He tells us to walk away, to stop the chase of things that will not lead to appropriate fruits. He told the Israelites to stop trying to hoard manna in the desert\u2014they had to trust that more would come. He gave the people in Judges rest from war\u2014stop conquering or defending and cease your battles for a time. And he tells all of us, much like David, to be still and wait patiently for the Lord to reveal himself\u2026to stop comparing to everyone else who is succeeding in exactly the things you yourself are trying to succeed in, to stop spinning in circles over the pursuits that leave you tired and empty.<\/p>\n

\n

PSALM 37:7<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Be still\u00a0before the\u00a0Lord<\/strong> and wait patiently\u00a0for him;<\/strong> do not fret\u00a0when people succeed in their ways…\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Instead, we are all called to sit at times and BE STILL. And in that stillness, God might just say, Leave this job or project or relationship that is not working<\/em>.\u00a0Sometimes giving up on the thing you thought you had to have is the only way to hear what might be better. And God does have something better in mind. He always will, because He knows us better than we know ourselves. To pursue what we were not designed for is to waste the precious time we have been given.<\/p>\n

\n

ISAIAH 30:15<\/strong><\/h2>\n

15\u00a0<\/sup>This is what the Sovereign\u00a0Lord, the Holy One\u00a0of Israel, says:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIn repentance and rest\u00a0is your salvation,<\/strong>\u00a0in quietness and trust\u00a0is your strength,<\/strong> but you would have none of it.\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So here\u2019s my prayer for you and me: May we sit in the stillness and hear when to persevere and when to change course.<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sunday Thoughts Link Up<\/strong><\/h1>\n

It’s time for another Sunday Thoughts Link-Up! I know there are many out there with wisdom that could encourage all of us. As long as it’s faith-based, I’d love for you to join up and then read and comment on what others have shared. Please also leave a comment here. Think of this as a Sunday morning community group that comes to you. And grab the button if you like…<\/strong><\/h3>\n

<\/div>\n

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When my childhood church built a new sanctuary, all the kiddos got to go in and write verses on the concrete foundation. I was twelve at the time. James 1:12 is what I scribbled in permanent marker in a corner of the would-be \u201cbridal<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/2018\/04\/21\/when-giving-up-is-best\/\"> …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[21,13,22],"tags":[214,27,48,115,212,17,100,331,59],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mom-gene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/giveup-e1522682353883.jpg?fit=1920%2C1094&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8ca5p-1jt","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5051"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5051"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5116,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5051\/revisions\/5116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}