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Another One Bites The Dust

November 10, 2011

So, this is day 4 of our 365 days and last night our laptop bit the dust!!! Well, it might come back to life… it is at the repair shop. Who knows.

So, how the heck do you keep a blog updated with no computer?!?! That’s exactly what we are wondering! For now I’m using my phone with spotty wifi service…and if need be we will trudge through rain, snow, and hail to keep posting! (Or just go to the library.)

So why does it seem like you always get kicked while your already down? I’m not just talking about the computer… since we set off on our quest, strange things keep happening. Our car died, and is sitting waiting for the time and money to repair it… our furnace needs fixed, it keeps heating the house up to 73 and Michael goes down and bangs a couple pipes each night which seems to set it straight till the next day. I’ve gone through 3 phones because they keep locking up. And multiple other little things.

These things, aren’t much in and of themselves but stacked up one after the other, day after day it tends to break you. They just pick away at your resolve, your joy and determination…till you want to give up!

And so my post today is about PERSEVERANCE!!!! And too often when the going gets tough we throw in the towel instead of putting our heads down, gritting our teeth and charging forward. Forward into the mess, the foggy confusion, the unknown!

It makes me think of the scene often replayed in Lord of the Rings… one of the characters is making one last heroic effort before they will most seemingly die. They charge forward screaming, waving their sword frantically, hair flying, eyes ablaze with determination. And then, at the last moment…they are of all things rescued! But not without a few bumps and bruises. And a wiser look in their eyes. They faced their fears, the challenge, the ‘resistance’ head on and won!

This is how I want to approach hardship…or ‘the resistance’ as some call it. Those things that are thrown at us to try to discourage us, get us off track and into throw us into despair. When we are discouraged…we are exactly what the word states- we loose our courage. We give up. And my voice, the voice I have been created to use for good goes quiet. When I  give up the battle is over and I am not the victor. I have not come out on the other side. I have not come away with a wonderful story to tell, of trials and hardships and how I overcame them.

Therefore, I declare though computer-less we will not be thwarted! We will not be taken out…we will PERSEVERE …we will go on!!!!!!

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  • Ryan Ash November 10, 2011 at 11:26 pm

    I’m sorry to hear of the bad things happening to you all, but it’s really wonderful that you all have resolved to push on anyway! Not only will it be encouraging to you both when you look back on how far you’ve come, but it’s really encouraging to others as well! I hope you get your computer back soon, and the car and heater fixed!

    • Claudia Good November 12, 2011 at 12:00 am

      Thanks Ryan!!!
      What an encouragement you have been for us! Blessings to you and your family as you also pursue creating a wonderful story!

  • Sarah Gingrich November 11, 2011 at 12:43 am

    No good work goes unopposed. Carry on, you can still smile while gritting your teeth ; ).

    • Claudia Good November 11, 2011 at 11:53 pm

      Sarah,
      I love your words!!!!! 🙂

  • Ivan Bickett November 11, 2011 at 9:22 am

    I’ve had the same experience. I made the decision to go full time at A Better Way of Business and what happens? My car dies. Need another. Our AC / furnace dies, has to be replaced. Laptop dies. Has to be replaced. A dozen other little things kick me right in the crotch while I’m already on knees asking for help!

    But I am convinced, CONVINCED, this is the “world”, the devil, the “resistance”, call it what you will DOING IT’S ABSOLUTE BEST!!! to keep me from the path I was MADE for! Anything and everything that can be done to stop me, will. B/c the goal is to keep me “normal”, “average”, doing what’s expected.

    So I cry a little while down. Ask why is this happening to me. Occasionally puke from being so freaked out about how things are playing out.

    Then I get back up and get back to work marching down the path before me. Actually, I can’t even see the path. It’s single step after single step with God holding my hand and saying, “A little to the left with the next one. That’s right. Now back to the right a big. GOOD!”

    Your journey is so similar to my journey. Remember, single step after single step.

    PERSEVERE!

    ~Ivan

    • Anonymous November 11, 2011 at 10:08 am

      Ivan I love your analogy – that you cannot see what’s ahead but you are taking single step after single step. You have faith that it is all going to turn out for your good. WHOOHOO!!! I’m getting so excited! I wish I could actually do something about it RIGHT NOW rather than sit here at my desk. :/

      • Claudia Good November 12, 2011 at 12:03 am

        Haha Alana,
        I know the feeling!!! Bursting with excitement and wonderful words!!!

    • Claudia Good November 12, 2011 at 12:10 am

      Ivan,
      Where is your next book signing!? I’m comin to it!!!!
      I love how you said all that you said here!!!!!!!!!!!!
      That’s right…we just head in a direction and God steers…and the key is to head in A direction, just get moving!… And like you said, step by step!!!

  • Anonymous November 11, 2011 at 10:06 am

    awesome. awesome. awesome!! YEAH! This is totally true! When we step out and begin to take control of our lives there in an enemy that does not like it and tries to thwart our plans and actions… and when it rains, it seems to pour. I am inspired that you are trucking forward despite all the things that could make you crumple in defeat!

    • Claudia Good November 12, 2011 at 12:18 am

      Alana,
      It does always seem to rain when it pours! Almost to the point of being so obvious that we have an enemy! It used to get me so down, now it makes me push harder (most of the time)
      Again…so lovely to connect with you!!

  • Anonymous November 11, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    I feel ya! (I hate those moments, but really, once you realize that you’re in one, things get better!)

    One of my favorite things to do when I get overwhelmed is this: Remind myself Who God is, what He is like. Turn my hands palm down (to give stuff away) and verbalize all the “stuff” that is in my heart/heart, that I’m carrying (not just the bad stuff, but everything). Then turn my hands over (to receive) and accept whatever God’s provision in this moment is.

    • Claudia Good November 12, 2011 at 12:23 am

      Dave,
      I really like this. It really helps to use physical motions rather than just a prayer in our heads.
      Also, how you said to ‘accept whatever God’s provision in the moment is,’ this speaks to me!
      Thanks

      • Anonymous November 12, 2011 at 9:37 pm

        I was playing the old Rich Mullins song Sometimes By Step tonight in the hallway while the kids were taking a bath and I was so struck by the last lines of each verse: “There was so much work left to do, but so much You’d already done” and “I may falter in my step, but never beyond Your reach.”

        You can listen here: http://youtu.be/nXdrzzDZuLk

        • Claudia Good November 12, 2011 at 11:46 pm

          Thanks Dave! I used to listen to Rich Mullins all the time…have always appreciated his music.