Megan's prayer: Jars of Clay's "The Eleventh Hour"

I won't give up on giving you
The chance to blow my mind

I think one of the hardest things to do in life is continue on, giving your best effort, despite the lack of desired results. Basically, to not give up. In the short 21 years that I have lived my life, there have been too many times where I have simply given up - decided not to finish the race - because I was too afraid that I would not achieve what I had wanted to achieve. I quit going to basketball tryouts Freshman year of high school because I was afraid I wouldn't make the team even if I finished trying out. I've given up on friendships because they weren't going well and I didn't see any way that they could turn around.

I regret giving up on these things. Although I'm pretty sure most of them wouldn't have ended with the results that I was hoping for, the fact that I bowed out early took away from my experiences. I think that most of the time when I give up early, I end up missing all of the good that could have come, even from outcomes I wasn't hoping for.

Currently, I'm facing quite a few challenges where many times I think it would just be easiest to bow out, to give up. When I'm not seeing or experiencing the results I was hoping for, it seems to just be easier to stop putting in so much effort since I'm not getting the benefits I was hoping for.

Today's song reminded me to not give up on giving God the chance to blow me away. Up until last Saturday, it had been months since a great Adoration experience. I was close to giving up, but God provided for me during the retreat and blessed me with a great experience. I'm hoping this can be an example for the other areas in my life - I'm hoping I can continue on, even if my desired results fade away, and I'm left with a different set of results.