The Confident Woman: Start Today Living Boldly and Without Fear (25 page)

Chapter Fifteen

WINNERS NEVER QUIT

Q
uitting is not an option for the confident woman. She must decide what she wants or needs to do and make her mind up that she will finish her course. You will experience some opposition no matter what you attempt to do in life. The Apostle Paul said that when doors of opportunity opened to him, opposition often came with it (1 Corinthians 16:9). Confidence believes that it can handle whatever comes its way; it doesn’t fear what has not happened yet.

I still remember the first Sunday morning I ministered at a church we started in the inner city of St. Louis. Our goal was to help the hurting people in that area and give them hope. I stood in the pulpit that day and announced loudly, “I am here to stay.” I knew others who had tried to do similar works and, after a period of time, gave up. I made up my mind when I started that I would finish.

We have endured opposition. Local churches got upset because a new church was coming into the area. They were afraid that we would take their congregations. Their comment was, “We don’t need a big ministry coming in here and taking our people.” Attitudes such as that are fear-based and foolish.

One of our staff members was injured in a drive-by shooting, but we still didn’t leave and neither did he.

Occasionally, members of the congregation had windows broken in their cars during the church service, but they did not leave. A couple of times cars were even stolen, but we still stayed.

The pastor was caught in an affair with another employee and we became more determined than ever. We said, “Even if we have to start all over, we are not going to leave.” Fear said, “the people in the congregation will leave when they here this.” I said, “If anyone leaves, God will send two more to replace them.” I addressed the congregation and openly shared the truth with them. I told them we would get someone good to pastor the church, that Satan wanted to use the situation to divide the church, but we weren’t going to let that happen. People really appreciated the honesty and no one left. The church has grown and is one thousand members strong at this time.

When you attempt to do something and fear rears its ugly head, you must remember that the whole goal of fear is to stop you. Fear wants you to run, to withdraw and to hide. God wants you to finish what you began.

The Apostle Paul was given a job to do and he was determined to do it even though he knew that it meant imprisonment and suffering. He kept his eyes on the finish line, not on what he knew he would go through. He said he wasn’t moved by the opposition, but that his goal was to finish his course with joy. Paul not only wanted to finish what he started, he wanted to enjoy the journey. Enjoyment is not possible if we are afraid all the time. Fear brings present torment concerning future situations that may not happen anyway. Paul knew that whatever did happen, God would be faithful to strengthen him so that he might patiently endure it.

If we stare at our giants too much, the fear of them will overtake us. Keep your eyes on the prize, not the pain. In the Bible, Paul explains how they were pressed on every side and troubled and oppressed in every way. They could see no way out but they refused to give up. He explains in 2 Corinthians 4:9 how they were persecuted but not deserted or left by God to stand alone. Paul said, “We are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed.” I can feel my heart being stirred with courage even as I listen to Paul. He made his mind up that no matter what happened he was going to finish his course. Paul explained that they did not get discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear) because they looked not at the things they could see but to the things they could not see. (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9, 16, 18).

If we stare at our problems too much, think and talk about them too much, they are likely to defeat us. Glance at your problems but stare at Jesus.

If we stare at our problems too much, think and talk about them too much, they are likely to defeat us. Glance at your problems but stare at Jesus. We don’t deny the existence of problems, we don’t ignore them, but we do not permit them to rule us. Any problem you have is subject to change. All things are possible with God!

When David came against the giant Goliath, he did not stand for hours looking at the giant wondering how to win the battle. The Bible says that he ran quickly to the battle line, all the time talking about the greatness of God and declaring his victory ahead of time. David did not run away from his giant; he courageously ran toward him.

Robert Schuller said, “If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.”
¹

If David had run from Goliath he would never have been King of Israel. He was anointed by God to be king twenty years before he wore the crown. During those years he faced his giants and proved that he had the tenacity to endure difficulty without quitting.

Did David feel any fear as he approached Goliath? I think he did. In David’s writings he never claimed to be free from the feelings of fear. As a matter of fact he talked about being afraid.

What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You.

By [the help of] God I will praise His word; on God I lean, rely, and confidently put my trust; I will not fear. What can man, who is flesh, do to me?
(Psalm 56:3, 4)

David was clearly saying that even though he
felt
fear, he chose to
be
confident!

Paul said that we are each running a race and that we should run it to win. Winning requires preparation, training, sacrifice and a willing to press past our opposition. It often requires falling many times and continuing to get up over and over again.

Paul said that we are each running a race and that we should run it to win. Winning requires preparation, training, sacrifice, and a will to press past opposition. It often requires failing many times but continuing, always keeping going, despite any opposition we may encounter along the way.

In 1921 Peter Kyne wrote a moving story about a man who knew what it meant to never quit.
The Go-Getter
is a story that continues to inspire people today. I’d like to share a short summary of it with you.

Bill Peck comes home from World War I with a limp, no left arm, and a spirit of determination greater than that of ten healthy men put together. After interviewing at the Ricks Logging & Lumbering Company twice and still not getting hired, Bill calls on the founder of the company, Alden Ricks, and urges him to persuade the rest of the management to give Bill a chance.

“I want you to go over [management’s] heads and give me a job,” Bill tells his prospective employer. “I don’t care a hoot what it is, provided I can do it. If I can do it, I’ll do it better than it was ever done before, and if I can’t do that I’ll quit to save you from having to fire me.”

Despite his reluctance to interfere in the hiring decisions of the men he has put in charge to run things, Alden is taken with the young veteran. He admires Bill’s skill at selling himself, and he is doubly impressed by Bill’s easygoing, congenial manner when refusing to take no for an answer. Alden convinces his right-hand man, Mr. Skinner, to hire Bill, with a stern warning to the veteran that he’ll receive three chances and no more.

“When do I report for duty, sir?” he asks and starts that afternoon.

But Bill has his work cut out for him. Mr. Skinner, privately advised by Alden Ricks, gives him his assignment: to sell skunk wood, a “coarse and stringy and wet and heavy” lumber that, for a short while after it’s cut, “smells just like a skunk.” It’s a wood that few buy, and Mr. Skinner is sure he’ll be letting the new salesman go when he isn’t able to sell it. But Bill takes his bottom-of-the-barrel mission in stride and accepts with his typical answer: “It shall be done.”

Two months pass and nothing is heard of Bill, who has been sent out into the Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas territory to see what sales he can scare up for skunk wood. Nothing is heard from Bill—but his orders start pouring in. “Two carloads of larch rustic” for Salt Lake City and “a carload of skunk spruce boards, random lengths and grades, at a dollar above the price given by Skinner” for a retail yard in Ogden—a company that Mr. Skinner has tried to get business from for many years. By the time Bill reaches Texas, his orders for skunk wood are coming in so fast that Mr. Skinner is forced to ask him to turn his attention to selling the better wood, like Douglas fir and redwood.

By the time he returns to the office, Bill has outsold the company’s best salesman and even receives a larger salary as a result of his success. Alden Ricks decides that perhaps Bill is worthy of a new test. This is fine with Mr. Skinner, who is certain that Bill will fail and he’ll be taken off the payroll for good.

Alden Ricks calls Bill and asks if the young war veteran would mind running an errand for him. Alden has seen a blue vase in the window of a particular store and needs Bill to go purchase it for him so he can take it out of town to his daughter’s house that evening for her wedding anniversary.

But the store is not where Alden Ricks said it was. When Bill can’t reach Alden on the phone, he searches on foot and finally finds the store several blocks away, closed for the evening. But the name of the owner is on the door, and Bill soon begins a series of phone calls out of the phone book, calling as many B. Jonsens as there are listed. He finally talks to the right one, who connects him with an assistant who meets him at the store.

But the price of the vase is an enormous amount—two thousand dollars—and the assistant refuses to take a check. Determined to make good on his promise, Bill phones Mr. Skinner, who avoids helping in any way. Bill is forced to figure out yet another way to get the vase, putting a special ring of his own down as collateral.

After finally purchasing the vase, he rushes to the train station where he was supposed to meet Alden Ricks. The train left the station several hours earlier, so Bill tracks down a pilot friend who flies him to a point by the railroad track. There Bill sits and waits. When he sees the train approaching, he flags it down with a Sunday paper he has twisted into a torch and lit. He forces the train to stop and convinces the brakeman to allow him to board. Though he is a bit late, he finally delivers the vase to the stateroom of one astonished Alden Ricks, who explains to the exhausted man that the vase was his “supreme test of a go-getter.”

“It’s a job that many before you have walked away from at the first sign of an obstacle,” Alden Ricks says. “You thought you carried into this stateroom a two-thousand-dollar vase, but between ourselves, what you really carried in was a ten-thousand-dollar job as our Shanghai manager.”

What a moving story! Doesn’t it encourage you? Doesn’t it make you want to finish your own challenges in life? What I like best about this story is that Bill could have given up at any point. He could have broken into the store, or he could have just gone home. But he used integrity, resourcefulness, and determination to get the job done. He never gave up. Cowards quit, but confidence and courage finish.

Winners don’t always take first place, but they must finish what they start. After realizing that he wasn’t going to make the train on time, Bill could easily have said, “That’s it. I tried and I failed.” But he didn’t—and he won a prestigious, high-paying job for his achievement!

Are you tempted to give up on something right now? Don’t! Finishing your challenge will build your confidence. You will trust yourself more, and that is important.

When you always choose the easy way, your conscience is stirred. You may try to ignore it, but your conscience whispers to you that you have not done your best.

So when you are faced with decisions that plague or wear you down, be confident in your ability that you will see success. And repeat what Bill Peck always said: “It shall be done!”

Winners don’t always take first place, but they must finish the race. Are you tempted to give up on something right now? Don’t! Finishing your race will build your confidence. You will trust yourself more and that is important. When we make decisions that we know inside our heart aren’t the best decisions, it bothers our conscience. We may try to ignore the voice of conscience but it whispers to us that we have not done our best.

I have learned from experience that a guilty conscience hinders the flow of confidence. Confidence is faith in God and a belief that because He is helping you, you can succeed in whatever you need to do. However, if we feel guilty we will shrink back from God rather than boldly expecting Him to assist us. We will give up rather than face our challenges in life because we feel bad about ourselves.

A woman we will call Stephanie heard that a position was open in her company and she wanted to apply for it. She needed to make more money and liked the idea and the prestige of promotion. Stephanie asked her supervisor if she could interview for the new job and was told to be prepared the next day to do so. All that evening something was bothering Stephanie; she wasn’t sure what it was but she had a vague fear that she would not get the job. When the time came the next day for the interview, she wasn’t even sure she should apply. Her confidence disappeared and she wasn’t looking forward to answering her supervisor’s questions. During the interview, it was obvious that she wasn’t sure of herself. When asked if she believed she could do the job, she replied, “I hope so.” The minute her supervisor realized that Stephanie lacked confidence, she lost confidence in her also and quickly ended the interview. Stephanie later received a notice in her mailbox at work that someone else had filled the position.

Stephanie began praying about what had happened to her confidence. Why did she suddenly seem so unsure of herself? After a time of soul searching and prayer she remembered some things that had taken place in the past few months at work. She was making personal unnecessary phone calls during working hours knowing it was against company policy. Her conscience bothered her when she did it, but she reasoned that the company did not pay her enough anyway and she deserved a few perks. She also took extra long lunch hours on days when her supervisor was out of the office. Once again her conscience bothered her but she excused her behavior to herself and went on. The Bible tells us that reasoning leads us into deception that is contrary to the truth. The truth was plain and simple. Stephanie’s actions were wrong! No reasoning or excuses could change that. She was stealing from her company and even though she tried to ignore her conscience, deep down inside she felt guilty about her actions. Now she understood why she could not apply with confidence for the position she desired. She learned that confidence and condemnation don’t work well together.

If you want to walk confidently with assurance and your head held high, then strive to keep your conscience clear of offense toward God and man.

Even quitting when you know you should keep going will bother your conscience. God did not give us His Holy Spirit so we could be in bondage to fear. He did not send the power of His Spirit into our lives so we could be weak-willed, wimpy or the type of person who gives up when the going gets tough. Remember: God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7, KJV).