By Jeanna White

I am very passionate about being the best Wife, Mom, Leader, and Woman I can be, so I obviously I wake up everyday refreshed, rejuvenated full of the Holy Spirit and ready to tackle anything that comes my way with the utmost of Joy…Not quite.

How many of you have similar stories? You want to do it all, be an amazing best friend that remembers every birthday, a leader in our jobs and a woman that runs after God and leads the best Bible studies. Most of us would love passion to fuel our life and work every day.  But when we are honest, more days than not, what we really want to do is quit!

Whether you’ve felt a call into ministry, you’re starting a new job, you’re toying with a new idea, or you’re even beginning a new relationship, passion gets us out of the gate every time. The problem is that passion fades.  Even when we know we are exactly where God wants us, that we really shouldn’t be doing anything else, it’s hard to keep going when we don’t feel like it anymore.  Give it a season, a year, or (for the ultra passionate), a decade, eventually it just doesn’t feel like it used to or like we think it’s supposed to. That’s when we do one of two things:

• We look for the wrong ways to renew our passion. 


• We move on to something different.  We leave what we used to think was our dream calling and hope to find a new one somewhere else.

Can’t get passionate about this job anymore?  Find a new one.

Don’t like your spouse anymore? Trade him in.

So what is the right answer?

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. Hebrews 11:6

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4

Passion has a surprising counterpart: perseverance.  So many people quit what could be a life calling not because the calling dried up but because their passion did.  Purpose is not just about us but what God wants to do through us. God has called you to a purpose and wants you to walk in it!

Sometimes perseverance is the only difference between what you are currently feeling and what you will feel once again. Your emotions eventually catch up with your obedience.  I always wonder how many people quit just moments before a critical breakthrough. GOD – Do I have a breakthrough around the corner?

Guess what the Bible lists as a virtue in 2 Peter, Chapter 1?  Perseverance. You will have days, weeks, even seasons that are characterized by passion for what you’re doing.  And you will have periods of time – sometimes really, really long periods of time – where you will simply have to persevere.

So here’s my reality, this is where I’m at right now! I have to decide to keep going and ask God to help me persevere.  A good friend in my Freedom group recently talked about the significance for the number 5 in the Bible. I’d never heard this before and I loved this! The number 5 symbolizes God's grace, goodness and favor toward us and is mentioned 318 times in Scripture. (John 1:16)  It’s because of God’s grace for us that he wants to give us perseverance for the next 5 seconds, 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 months, etc.

Maybe the best thing you can do if you’ve got a great idea, a great calling, a great husband, a great work…is hang in there.  You’ll be surprised what you might discover and accomplish.

Here’s the challenge:  list out 3-5 things that you were once very passionate about, but are now doing out of frustration or wish you could stop.  Now pray about these exact things.  God is your creator, He is the one that will fuel you, and He is the one that can renew you.  Ask God to help you where you are RIGHT NOW.  If you are waiting for a breakthrough, ask Him for it.

 

 



 

 

Jeanna White has been married to Jerry for 20 years and has 3 kids, Easton, Hunter and Schuyler.  A few of the things she juggles are a son in college, lacrosse, cheerleading, college application deadlines, middle school, hosting an exchange student and getting dinner on the table before 8:00 PM!  Jerry is an Associate Pastor at GFC Waters and Jeanna is passionate about her job as the Early Childhood Director for GFC.