Show up and Do it Afraid: Most importantly Keep Showing Up

My favorite story in the Bible is the Exodus and subsequent wilderness journey of the Children of Israel.  If that doesn't provide an excellent view of human behavior and our relationship with God, then I don't know what does!  

God delivers the people from their oppressors and does all kinds of exciting miracles in the process. 

Moses goes up to the mountain, takes too long,  the people decide he's not coming back and worshiping Yahweh ain't it, so they decide to build a golden calf!

As bad as this is, I get it and I understand it.

When things take too long, there's an overwhelming temptation to give up and go another way.

That's how I am feeling.  

I remind myself though that I have to keep showing up.

Keep Showing Up

I decided to read the book Keep Showing up by Karen Ehman along with the ladies of Proverbs 31 Online Bible Studies.  The book is about how wives have to keep showing up in their marriage.  Now clearly I am not married but I would like to be. Because I would like to be married, I think it's important to listen to wisdom from ladies in Kingdom Marriages.  I've learned a lot so far.

I think one of the biggest things I'm learning from Karen and the weekly videos that accompany the study is that in marriage, you have to keep showing up.  You can't think just because y'all said "I do" that you don't have to "do" anything else.  You have to keep showing up every day even when it's hard, the other person is getting on your nerves, or you're in a tough spot.

I've been thinking about how frustrated I get when things aren't going fast enough, when it's not going how I think it should go, and worst of all when I pray and then nothing happens!  

Weekly Challenge

Every week there is a challenge for the ladies to follow and even though I'm not married, I let the Holy Spirit guide me into modifying the challenge for my situation.

This week I had two specific challenges and I was excited to do them.  By Saturday I was frustrated and irritated because the challenge was not going the way I wanted!  

I decided to keep showing up and doing the challenge. I wish I could say that the challenge ended up being exactly how i wanted but that isn't what happened at all.  In fact I got even more irritated and annoyed!!

One of the main messages that Karen Ehman gives in the book, Keep Showing Up is that marriage is supposed to be refining us into being more like Jesus.  

As we know, Jesus was selfless and said, "Not my will but your will God." when he was praying in the garden before his crucifixion.  

Just last week on Resurrection we celebrated the fact that God did not take away Jesus' suffering as Jesus asked him to but God allowed a much better plan to unfold.

This is a great lesson to learn.

So many times we're sold prayer like it's a Genie in the Bottle and you gotta pray it the right way.  That's not it.  I heard Mark Batterson say that he went on a 4.7 mile prayer walk in 1996 when National Community church was just getting off of the ground.  

His last church plant was a failure and this one didn't look to be too promising because due to the Capitol Hill recess and Summer break for students, their church had 13 people one Sunday.  (He said that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three of those folks)

He went on this prayer walk and not much happened after that.

BUT

23 years later they own 6 of the buildings on that very block where he did that prayer walk, they have multi-site campuses, and National Community Church is building an incredible legacy of faith that is touching people worldwide.

Mark Batterson and the team at National Community Church kept showing up.

What if they had said:  Only 13 people came to church.  This isn't going anywhere...I'm quitting.  What if after that prayer walk when not much happened, Mark decided that it was all pointless and he was giving up on this dream that he truly believed God had given him.

Think of all that would have been forfeited because they stopped showing up.

When things are going to slowly and I'm ready to quit, I remind myself of what I am forfeiting.  It's not just one thing.  It's an entire legacy and an entire volume of life!

I can't go for that...Nope..No can do.

So I am going to keep showing up. 

Part of being afraid for me is that I'm afraid that nothing will happen and I will be disappointed.  For sure, Nothing will happen if I STOP showing up.

Sigh....