When You Want to Quit, Remember Who’s Walking Beside You

You are tired. Not the kind of tired a nap can fix. The kind that settles into your bones after you've prayed, pushed, waited and tried again.

Maybe it's the business that hasn't taken off yet. Maybe it's a health scare, a strained relationship with one of your grown children, or a dream you started later than everyone else. You've whispered it to yourself more than once: Maybe I should just quit.

I'm here to tell you, with love and without apology: don't you dare. Not because you're strong enough on your own. Because you were never walking this road alone.

Somewhere along the way, many of us picked up a lie: if God were really in this, it would be easier. So when the roadblocks come, we assume we took a wrong turn.

But Scripture never promised a smooth road. It promised a faithful Companion on a hard one. Paul, who knew more trouble than most of us ever will, put it this way:

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." (2 Corinthians 4:8–9, KJV)

Read that again, Sister. Cast down, but not destroyed. The test you're in right now is not the end of your story. It is a chapter in it.

Trials stretch your faith. Tests reveal what's already been built in you. Roadblocks force you to stop leaning on your own plans and start leaning on His. None of that is wasted.

When you feel like giving up, the question isn't "How much strength do I have left?" The question is "Who is walking beside me?"

He is the God who goes ahead of you:

"And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed." (Deuteronomy 31:8, KJV)

He is the God who holds you up when your knees give out:

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isaiah 41:10, KJV)

He is the God who doesn't pull you out of every fire, but walks into it with you:

"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned." (Isaiah 43:2, KJV)

Notice the word through. Not around. Not over. Through. You will come out the other side, and you will not come out alone.

Some of the strongest encouragement comes from believers who walked through fire before us. Write these on a sticky note. Put them on your mirror. Read them on the hard days.

"There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." — Betsie ten Boom, as shared by her sister Corrie ten Boom

Betsie spoke those words inside a Nazi concentration camp. If God's love reached her there, it can reach you where you are today.

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." — Corrie ten Boom

"If God sends us on stony paths, he provides strong shoes." — Corrie ten Boom

"By perseverance the snail reached the ark." — Charles Spurgeon

I love that last one. Slow progress is still progress, Sister. The snail didn't sprint. It just didn't stop.

And the promise that ties them all together:

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:9, KJV)

1. Rest, but don't retreat. Even Elijah needed sleep and a meal before God spoke to him again. Tired is not the same as finished.
2. Tell Him the truth. You don't have to pretend you're fine. The Psalms are full of honest, messy prayers. He can handle yours.
3. Shrink the next step. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the next faithful step today.
4. Remember what He's already done. Write down three times God carried you before. The same God is carrying you now.
5. Lean on your sisters. Call a friend. Join a prayer group. Isolation makes every mountain look taller.
6. Speak the promise out loud. "The Lord is with me. He will not fail me. He will not forsake me."

Sister, your age is not a deadline. Your setbacks are not a verdict. Your weariness is not the end.

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31, KJV)

So take a breath. Wipe your eyes if you need to. Then lift your chin and say it with me:

I am tired, but I am not done. I am tested, but I am not alone. The One who called me is walking with me, and I will not give up.

If this spoke to you, share it with a sister who needs it today. And leave a comment below: what's one promise from God you're holding onto right now?

With love and faith,
Sharon

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (public domain).