"Don't quit 5 minutes before the miracle"

In the course of my ministry, I hear a lot of things. People share their stories with me; I assist them in mapping out their goals - and provide them with tools to achieve them. If I don't have an answer to a question, I'm pretty good at knowing how to look for it, and then I show them how to find it. The main objective in every case is self-sufficiency and an improved life.

As I am imparting and empowering those I assist - I also glean valuable bits of information in return. It never fails. My latest lesson was so incredibly "right up under my  nose" and tailor made for me (therefore, straight from God) - that it blew me back!  Last summer, a woman a few years my senior shared her story, telling me how she had once been very  impatient and would make hasty decisions in the past. She'd hit a wall, or what she thought was a wall, and give up. Time after time, when going through life's discomforts, she'd reach a dead-end, or what she thought was a dead-end - and stop cold. Then a day came when she was at another impasse, and she reminded herself that she's a person of faith - so she decided to keep praying, to persevere - to be strong enough to last for "five more minutes." And God showed up. That's when the sista raised her right hand and pointed her index finger at me and said, "Miss Bridget, see, don't quit 5 minutes before the miracle! Those walls I hit were opportunities for me to keep pushing on in faith!"

Ladies and gentlemen - some of you know what she meant. And if I may be transparent with you, I was stirred by this woman's testimony last summer, but I wasn't to learn the lesson once and for all, until just last week, in the fullness of time. I had a situation that I thought needed to be handled "a certain way"; and I had become frustrated. I'd prayed about it, asked God to show me what to do, all of that. Then I tried to make it work on my own, because I hadn't listened for God's voice in the matter. Of course "my way" wasn't working; how could it? I threw up my hands, almost quit, when I remembered that I am a person of faith! Then I got somewhere and sat myself down, and waited. Five days later, no exaggeration, God revealed the way my problem would be solved! It was so simple and perfect it was crazy! And His plan was far better than what I was trying to "jerry-rig" (no offense to the Jerrys out there).

I just wanted to share this good stuff - it might help somebody else.Wait on the Lord!  Don't quit 5 minutes, 5 days, or 5 years before the miracle!  Some of you know what I mean.