The Day I Quit
I’ve never been a quitter…ever.Not in a sporting game that involved me, an assignment given to me, a responsibility asked of me, or a dream entrusted to me. I am not a quitter.But two years ago, I decided to quit.Not in my marriage, not in my life, but in ministry. I had convinced myself, in my own mind, that I had completed my God-assignment as a teacher and leader of women. I had served in full-time ministry for 30 years, had obeyed what God had asked of me, and I was now done. I began to look into my life, post 50 years old, and formulate in my mind what my life was going to look like.Open my own antique shop? Perhaps! Manage a flower/garden nursery, helping people to create beautiful gardens of their own? Yes, of course! Buy and flip houses? Absolutely! If it’s that easy on television then certainly it’s that easy in real life! 😊I had it all planned out…IN MY OWN MIND! Of course, my plans included my husband…he could continue to pastor and lead people and build God’s kingdom (how kind of me to allow him that privilege!)😊. I told my husband none of this, knowing what he would say, but in my own mind…I was done. Done with ministry. Done with teaching and leading women. Just D.O.N.E. Allow me first to fill you in on how I came about my decision to quit:I was tired…really, really tired. My husband and I became empty nesters and instead of filling my extra time with things that energized me, or with much needed rest, or with new hobbies, I filled my time with work. More and more and more WORK. And after doing that for more than a year, I was exhausted. Totally and utterly exhausted. Plus that same year had been a very hard year in ministry.So with all those factors in play…I had talked myself into retirement.Until one Sunday. As I sat in church listening to a guest speaker, he read some verses out of Luke chapter 5. He was speaking on how the disciples were instructed by Jesus to cast their nets on the other side of their boat, after a long day of fishing but catching nothing. The disciples obeyed what Jesus asked of them, cast their nets once again on the other side of their boat, and brought their nets up overflowing with fish. Jesus went on to tell them that He was going to make them into fishers of men.
But it was one simple phrase that the speaker read in that story that, when read, became God’s voice speaking loud and clear to me: verse 2 says, “he (Jesus) saw at the water’s edge, two boats, left there by the fishermen, WHO WERE WASHING THEIR NETS.”
The words leapt off of the page, straight to my heart! I can’t even tell you the rest of the sermon that day from our guest speaker because once I heard those five words read: “WHO WERE WASHING THEIR NETS.” I began to hear the tender, loving voice of God assuring me that HE. WAS. NOT. DONE. WITH. ME. I heard from Him how I had not completed my God-given assignment of leading and teaching women. In fact, my assignment was far from over…there was much yet to do for His kingdom and His people!The disciples were washing their nets because they were done with their work for the day. They had completed a day’s work and were now cleaning up their equipment and their nets. But just because they were done, didn’t mean that God was done with them. There was still work to do, fish to catch, and men to disciple.As I re-read that phrase over and over in my mind, I realized one thing: I had started “washing my nets” of ministry far too soon. Just because I was done, didn’t mean God was done with me. There was still much work for me to do, still many women to lead, teach and disciple. And to think that I was dreaming about the antique shop I would open!As God began speaking this truth to my heart, He started breathing fresh life into me. He began showing me all the work He had left for me to do, how that my God-assignment was far from over! And I clearly began to see how I had listened to the lie from the enemy telling me that God was done with me.
In my weariness, I had allowed the enemy’s voice to become louder than God’s voice in my life. In my exhaustion, I couldn’t decipher the enemy’s voice from God’s. I had indeed “exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (Romans 1:25), and in believing that lie, I almost walked away from the greatest calling and God assignment of my life!
I had to go back to the TRUTH of God’s word to combat the lies of the enemy. I had to believe those TRUTHS to expose the lies. And I had to walk those TRUTHS out in my life, every single day. I had to embrace and believe:That my best days were ahead of me, not behind me.That God was not finished with me yet.That God would complete what He began in me.That I am called by God, and just because I turned a certain age, did not mean that I could check out and determine my own future.That I had to take out my “nets” and begin to cast them in areas I hadn’t cast before. That I had to believe for miracles in my life, and in the people around me.That I had to obey God’s words to me to keep “casting my nets".That my life’s work was not yet done.And that God was certainly not done with me either.And so…I haven’t walked away. I haven’t quit. I haven’t opened an antique shop or a garden nursery. I haven’t started my own real estate business. I’ve opened up my nets again and have cast them to a community and a region of women who are desperately searching for an answer…looking for a Savior…seeking for a God who loves them deeply.How about you? Have you washed your nets too soon? In your career, in your marriage, in your life?Just maybe you’re washing your nets too soon also. Just maybe there’s more casting of your nets to be done, more harvest for you to catch, more people for you to reach, more love for you to share.Don’t wash your nets just yet. And don’t go open your antique shop-- God’s not done with you either! 