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Jennifer Hayes Yates

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Just Keep Showing Up

September 18, 2019 By Jennifer H. Yates 1 Comment

18 Sep
Just Keep Showing Up (1)

This past weekend I was so blessed to be able to take a retreat with my Bible girlfriends to the mountains. We go once a year to Icthus Ministries in Bryson City, NC for a weekend of rest, worship, Bible study, fellowship, and fun together. (And did I mention good food?)

The couple who runs the retreat center, Bill and Edith Dingle, are two of the most loving, Spirit-filled people I know. When we arrived, Bill shared a story with me that I want to share with you because it was a great encouragement for our walk with the Lord.

Edith and their daughter Emma are cloggers. In fact, they are pretty good cloggers, winning the National Championship in Nashville, TN. That’s right, they won a National Championship!

With the title came a huge trophy and all the bragging rights you can imagine. Not to mention, they have now been invited to the World Championship!

What an amazing accomplishment (even though they had no competition)!

No, it’s not that the competitors were bad cloggers. There was literally no competition. Nobody else showed up!

So, even though Edith and Emma worked really hard, put in untold hours of practice, and drove to Nashville for the competition, they won a championship because they showed up when no one else did.

How like our God to honor their faithfulness!

As Bill shared with me, sometimes the Lord will make us champions because we just keep showing up, even when’s it’s a struggle, even when everything may seem to be against us, even when it costs us something.

I am reminded (as Bill shared with me) of the woman with the issue of blood.

“A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.”

Mark 5:24b-26, NIV 84

Here’s a woman who had every reason to not show up. Her medical problem, probably female in nature, made her ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:25-33). So she would have been shunned by others and unable to have contact with them.

This sickness had ruled her life for twelve years, but she had not given up seeking help. She continued to seek doctors who could cure her, but they took her money while her condition only worsened.

By the time she heard the rumors about this man who could heal the sick, she could have just decided to stay home. What good would it do to show up for another disappointment? Another letdown? Another hopeless situation?

“When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.'”

Mark 5:27-28

She did show up. And when the crowd was too large and pressing all around, she could have just retreated and gone back home. After all, what good would it do anyway?

But she didn’t. She continued to press in and believe that all her hope would be rewarded with just a touch of His garment.

And she was right.

“Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”

Mark 5:29

She won! She took home the trophy–no more pain, no more suffering, no more enduring the rejection of others. Because she just kept showing up. She kept seeking and believing that one day she would be made whole again.

I know sometimes you’re tired of doing church and ministry. You’re weary of fighting spiritual battles. You’ve endured rejection or hoped for an answer to a particular prayer with no result. Sometimes it would be easier to just throw in the towel. But God says you are more than a conqueror in Him.

“No, in all these things [trouble, hardship, persecution] we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Romans 8:37 (brackets added from v.35)

Keep praying. Keep seeking. Keep striving to be what God wants you to be. He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

No matter the cost, no matter the struggle, regardless of the effort–don’t give up, my friend. Keep walking in obedience to what God has called you to do.

“This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.”

1 John 5:4b

So just keep showing up. At the end of the day, you are taking home the trophy. Because you are already a champion in Him.

Want more encouragement from women of the Bible? Get my book, Just Like Us: 7 Ways Biblical Women Were Just Like Us (And Why It Matters).

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Filed Under: Bible Study, Women Tagged With: Bible studies for Women, Biblical Women Just Like Us, Christian Bible studies for women, Christian devotional, Devotions for Women, Icthus Ministries, Jennifer H Yates, Jennifer Hayes Yates, Just Keep Showing Up, women of the Bible

« Praying with Expectation after Disappointment
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About Jennifer H Yates

About Jennifer H Yates

Hey, friends! I'm Jen--wife, mama, and empty-nester. I love to write, read, and drink coffee, especially with friends.

I've found that many women struggle to find time and focus to grow their relationship with God through studying His Word. I encourage and challenge women with practical strategies and helpful resources for quality study in as little as fifteen minutes a day.

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We all have a place in the Kingdom. ⁠
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We all have a place in the Kingdom. ⁠
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Click link in bio to read post.⁠
⁠
#prayerwarrior #bedeeplyrooted #prayerispowerful #praywithoutceasing #christianpost #christianblogger #womenintheword #livewithintention #shareyourheart #faithwriter #womenencouragingwomen #wordoflife #seekgoddaily #wordbeforeworld #jesusandcoffee #daughteroftheking #fiercelyhis #womenlivingwell #girlfriendsintheworld #faithblogger #givemejesus #graceupongrace #faithoverfear #seekhimfirst #growingyourfaith #womenoftheworld #intheword #lampandlight #shereadstruth #butfirstjesus

"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel--the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:1-4, NIV).
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Do you know Him? You can. His life, death, and resurrection are historical fact. All so that you could know Him and have eternal life.
Jesus loves you! ❤

"The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee fo
"The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment" (Luke 23:55-56).
Can you imagine the horror these women had witnessed? Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many others had followed Jesus and helped support his ministry (Luke 8:3).
Now all their hopes had been crushed as they stood at a distance and witnessed Jesus' agonizing death on the cross (Luke 23:49). His own mother had to stand by helplessly as her son cried out, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46).
As we women often do, they looked for a way to still serve Him, even in His death, by preparing His body for burial. Sometimes, it's the little things.
When our hearts are breaking and we think we can't take another breath, sometimes we need something in our hands--a burial spice, a casserole, a text that says I'm here.
We can't make the hurt go away, but we can channel it into something useful, something hopeful, something comforting.
As they rested on the Sabbath, I'm sure they anticipated the opportunity to see Him one more time, to minister to Him once more with the spices and perfumes they had prepared.
Hearts crushed, hands open.
Grieved but grateful. Resting but ready.
Because if there was anything they knew for sure, it's that Jesus was no ordinary man. And when hearts are turned toward Him, anything can happen.

God never called us to “blind” faith. We may b
God never called us to “blind” faith. We may believe without seeing, but faith is being sure and certain of what we don’t see, not what we don’t know. ⁠
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We, too, have facts on which to base our faith. The Bible is historically accurate and verified. If ever we needed to know what we believe, it’s now.⁠
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Click link in bio to read post.⁠
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#prayerwarrior #bedeeplyrooted #prayerispowerful #praywithoutceasing #christianpost #christianblogger #womenintheword #livewithintention #shareyourheart #faithwriter #womenencouragingwomen #wordoflife #seekgoddaily #wordbeforeworld #jesusandcoffee #daughteroftheking #fiercelyhis #womenlivingwell #girlfriendsintheworld #faithblogger #givemejesus #graceupongrace #faithoverfear #seekhimfirst #growingyourfaith #womenoftheworld #intheword #lampandlight #shereadstruth #butfirstjesus

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What are you feeding?⁠
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Click the link in my bio to read this week's post.⁠
#prayerwarrior #bedeeplyrooted #prayerispowerful #praywithoutceasing #christianpost #christianblogger #womenintheword #livewithintention #shareyourheart #faithwriter #womenencouragingwomen #wordoflife #seekgoddaily #wordbeforeworld #jesusandcoffee #daughteroftheking #fiercelyhis #womenlivingwell #girlfriendsintheworld #faithblogger #givemejesus #graceupongrace #faithoverfear #seekhimfirst #growingyourfaith #womenoftheworld #intheword #lampandlight #shereadstruth #butfirstjesus ⁠


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