When Quitting is All You Have Left…

We fight. We press in. We battle endlessly against the unseen forces that seek to obliterate our very existence. Day after day leads to a seemingly perpetual routine of exhausting warfare. I've always been a fighter. I sometimes joke I was born with a sword and shield ready to leap into battle for any worthy cause. It might be truer than I know. We're taught to put in the armor of God and be sober and vigilant because we have a real enemy stalking our every move. What then can we make of our lot when the fight doesn't ease and the sheer exhaustion of life and its challenges literally knocks us off our feet? 

Scripture is complex and at times seems to contradict itself. On the one hand we must be ready to fight but then in other places it speaks clearly of rest and healing. I've been so focused on not giving up that I didn't hear the sound of the trumpet telling me to retreat, stand down and ultimately rest and recover. Push, push, push. I can do this!!! The all familiar cheer from the bleachers of my soul and yet inside I know that even the most hardened of warriors must take time to recover from the battle. Why do we think we can do it again and again without proper respite? Even the best intentions are no guarantee of success. I proudly boast that I am not a quitter, feeling somehow that quitting is the same as failure. It's not. Quitting is the action that must be taken to avoid certain disaster. Quitting is the wisdom that tells you you have traveled too close to the edge for too long. And quitting is the common sense God gave us to understand that we have limits as humans and that in those limitations, there is the knowledge of anothers strength. Quitting is not giving up. It is the relinquishing of control in an impossible situation and trusting God for the outcome. Quitting is acknowledging my need for God's intervention and knowing He has my back regardless of what is happening around me. Today I choose rest. I choose to be still. I choose to admit my need for breakthroughs and miracles. I choose Him.