Sometimes it’s just one of those weeks. You know what I mean—the ones when everything goes wrong and we begin to wonder if we are even supposed to be where we are, doing what we are doing. Life doesn’t go as expected, and we aren’t the people we should be. Maybe it’s time to give up on ministry, to quit trying to love that difficult person, or to ________. (Fill in your situation.) This week has left me discouraged. Do I give up on the dream to put my leadership material in book form? I have experienced disappointment on two fronts: my failure to love someone as Christ would and my inability to see much fruit from my time and efforts. I feel like God could better use someone else—someone who doesn’t hurt others, someone with name recognition.
When Moses became discouraged and angry listening to the people’s recurrent complaining, he hit the rock instead of speaking to it; with that, he killed his dream of entering the land (Num. 20:2—12). In contrast, Nehemiah faced threats to rebuilding the walls by calling his team to pray and carry swords (Neh. 4:1-15). He turned to God, believing that He would protect them because it was His dream being attacked, and at the same time, Nehemiah took action.
A time of discouragement isn’t the time to give up on dreams that come from God. Although my book may never be published, I believe God wants me to write it. Although I am far from perfect, God uses the weak. Instead of killing the dream, I will pray and guard against feelings of discouragement, turning my focus away from me to the grace and power of God!
How do you guard against discouragement’s killing power?
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