On Friday, Nicki Koziarz’s new study, A Woman Who Doesn’t Quit released—no fooling! We’re so excited to bring you this study on habits we can cultivate to stick with it when we want to quit. In this 6-session study, you’ll follow Ruth and learn how her perseverance led to hope for all of us. The following is an excerpt from the study. To see more, including a sample chapter, click here.
Hi, I’m Nicki. And I was four the first time I quit.
My mom had signed me up for some soccer team my brother was on. It was one of those two-for-one deals, where she could have both kids at the same place and same time with a sibling discounted rate.
The problem was I had zero interest in soccer. Z-e-r-o. I wanted to be a cheerleader, the kind that flew through the air and did toe-touches like a pro. I didn’t think the soccer shoes were cute. Running down the field was too much effort. And the boys on the team were just gross, always picking up worms and saying rude boy things.
So, I discovered a little manipulative move. It was called the stomachache.
You don’t mess with girls when their stomachs ache, even if they are four years old. So, eventually my mom and the coach got tired of my soccer stomach woes and didn’t make me finish out the season. They let me quit.
Wouldn’t you know, one afternoon the coach knocked on our back door. My mom and I were so surprised to see him and wondered why he was stopping by.
It was to give me my trophy!
Me, the girl who quit, still got the shiny trophy.
Score.
I thought I discovered a secret that day: if you quit you still win. But you and I both know this is the furthest thing from the truth.
So began a lifetime of quitting for me. Some of the decisions I’ve made to quit have had little effect on my life. Other decisions to quit have left me feeling empty, broken, and hopeless.
I got tired of being this woman who sulked in defeat. I wanted to be a woman God would look at and say, “Yes, that’s someone I can count on.” For the past few years, I’ve wrestled with this question—why do I give up so easily?
That question led me to ask myself more questions:
Does it have something to do with my genetics?
Is something wrong with me?
Am I just lazy?
I’ll be honest, I’m not an Old Testament Bible scholar. In fact, I’m a woman who’s just like most of you. I have a job, kids, carpools to drive, and a pug to chase down the street from the angry UPS man. (He’s so over our dog.)
As we study this book of the Bible together, I can promise you may still have some questions left in your heart. There’s so much we don’t know about this story.
What we do know is this woman, Ruth, went from loyalty to royalty. God chose to bring the most powerful generational line in history through her—because she chose not to quit a commitment she made.
Through her journey I discovered five habits she consistently lived out.
There’s a battle inside every woman that makes her want to give up on something or someone. With God’s help, we can and will complete the commitments we have made. We, too, will become women who don’t quit.
Let’s take a closer look at today’s Quit Quitting Verse: Romans 5:3-4.
And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope (Rom. 5:3-4).
The first word I want us to focus on from these verses is: affliction.
According to dictionary.com the official definition of affliction is:
noun: a state of pain, distress, or grief; misery.
Ruth’s story is filled with affliction: loss, death, hunger, and uncertainty.
Through this story of affliction we will also see a story of endurance, proven character, and hope lived out in a powerful way.
These steps I keep taking each day toward becoming a woman God can count on have taught me character is the foundation for the assignments God has for each of our lives.
Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the pursuit of “purpose.” What if our larger purpose is made up of small assignments and commitments that continually build our character?
I’ve yet to meet a woman who has a perfect character and can zoom through all of life’s assignments with ease and comfort. Every woman I have ever met is someone who has experienced some type of affliction in her life. We are all in this process together.
While we may live in a day and age when kids get trophies for everything no matter what, there’s more at stake than trophies in God’s eyes. Eternity is at stake. Every decision we make to quit or to stick it out has eternal consequences.
So, the choice is ours.
Will we allow the afflictions of life to transform us or cause us to turn from God?
