Quitter by Jon Acuff

Sample Quitter

Recently I read Quitter by Jon Acuff. As the subtitle suggests, Quitter is about helping you to jump from your day job to your dream job without killing your dream and your current funding in one fell swoop!

I admit that I first picked this book up not because I was interested in quitting my day job but because I had heard it so highly endorsed by Dave Ramsey. However, as I began to read Jon's personal story and his guidelines for making the transition between your day job and your dream job as smooth as possible I got hooked! Jon uses his own personal stories and experiences as a blogger turned writer and speaker to enliven his book and to breathe life and humor into what he is trying to tell you. But the core of the principle can be applied to any field or dream.

The part of the book that really had the greatest impact on me was when he said NOT to quit your day job. I know it's a shocker that the author of the book Quitter would write a chapter about NOT quitting your current job but it's true. I had never really considered that my day job could actually help my dream grow, but now I think that it totally can. You'll have to read the book to find out how Jon convinced me but believe me it's in there.

I highly recommend Quitter to anyone who has always had a bigger dream for their life than what they are currently living. Quitter will teach you practical steps to help make your dream become a reality.

Pursuing the Dream

My life has been changing a lot lately. A year ago, we moved. Six month ago, I got a new full-time job. One month ago, We found out the date for Jimmy's Surgery. In a few days, one of my little sisters will be married!

All this change has got me thinking...Am I really doing/accomplishing the things that I want to in my life?

I believe that the answer is that I am on the right track. I love art--always have and always will. I never really considered it as a career choice until a few years ago. So my career is in a totally different field and I have missed out on years of honing my abilities but I am not going to let that stop me!

Instead I have decided to pursue the dream! I am setting tangible goals to help me move in the right direction. I know that accomplishing these goals will only make my dream stronger and more sustainable. I am seeking the advice of friends and family members, and I am spending time in Bible Study and prayer about my future. It's great to know that I am not in this alone!

One of the best things is that God can use graphic design and web design to bring people to himself--so I am still doing missions! There is a day that I could see a healthier, slimmer Jimmy and a more practiced Christiana moving to another country to be an event coordinator and a designer but also be working as missionaries to spread the gospel to a country that is normally closed.

When you are pursuing God's dream for your life then your possibilities are endless!


More Resources: Check out the Printable Christmas Card Special I am running to help support my dream.

Living the Dream

Have you ever felt that you were meant for something more? Are you satisfied with where you are in life with your family, job, or career? I don't know about you but I have wondered if I will ever find my dream job.

Friday, I received my copy of Dave Ramsey's e-newsletter in my email inbox. I don't know if you are familiar with Dave Ramsey or not but around our house we affectionately call him "Uncle Dave". Anyway... I was caught by one of the first headings this month called This Way to Your Dream Job. Now stop right there for a minute. It's not that I hate what I do. I just dream of so much more than being an Administrative Assistant.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...The article is based on the book Quitters by Jon Acuff. As the article puts it, Acuff says

I think finding your dream job or what Sinek calls your “WHY” is more than a revelation or an act of discovery. I believe it’s a process of recovery.


More often than not, finding out what you love doing most is about recovering an old love or an inescapable truth that has been silenced for years, even decades. When you come to your dream job, your thing, it is rarely a first encounter. It’s usually a reunion. So instead of setting out to discover this thing you love doing, you’ve got to change your thinking and set out to recover it, maybe even rescue it.

This really ressonated with me today. It got me to thinking about the art classes that I have been taking at Saint Louis Community College and about the things I used to say like "I don't think that I would be good at being stuck behind a desk all day" or "I don't like talking on the phone" and I realized that I think God has something more for me.

I have felt God's call on my life to be in full-time ministry since I was in sixth or seventh grade. I know that God is calling me to use the gifts and talents and passions he has given me to serve Him. Now I just need to re-discover that calling in my life, and it's scary! Maybe His calling is SO much more for me than being an Administrative Assistant at the Missouri Baptist Children's Home. Yes, that's missions and ministry, but is that the ministry God has design for me. I guess we will just have to pray and see!

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'" Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

Buy Quitter by Jon Acuff

You Are Not Forgotten

I have put off writing about this. I feel like this was a very clear message from God when I needed it the most, and it spoke to me immediately and deeply. So deeply in fact that I almost kept this promise to myself, but then I decided that maybe someone else needed to hear this as well. I am going to share the message but if you don’t mind, I am going to keep the details that made it so personally moving to myself. Sorry.

Wednesday I was reading Girl Talk with God (read my review of Girl Talk with God) and one of the “talks” included the passage Habakkuk 2:3. I read the words without much emotion and kind of brushed them off. I didn’t want to read too much into them since I randomly read them in this book although I did remark that it was an obscure verse. I mean who reads from Habakkuk? Who puts it in their book? Evidently Susie Shellenberger does. Anyway…

Thursday morning, I opened my copy of Voices of the Faithful: Book 2 (Read my review of Voices of the Faithful: Book 2) and turned to January 27th… *Pause* If you don’t know the format of the book let me give you the low down. Each page has a scripture passage at the top, then a story or devotional by an IMB missionary, and it closes with a prayer which is relevant to the topic. *Play* Guess what! My eyes immediately filled with tears when I saw the verse was Habakkuk 2:3. This was no coincidence. These words were for me. God knew I was going to read the passage the night before and brush it off so He put it in my path first thing the next morning! I mean what are the odds?! The same obscure scripture in two totally different books that I have been reading for days and I read the verse twice within 10 hours of each other. No way! This was definitely God.

I want to share Habakkuk 2:3 with you because maybe you need to hear it today. God has a promise and a plan for you. Don’t give up hope.

“The message I give you
waits for the time I have appointed.
It speaks about what is going to happen.
And all of it will come true.
It might take a while.
But wait for it.
You can be sure it will come.
It will happen when I want it to.” Habakkuk 2:3 NIrV

God, please use this verse to speak to someone else today. I know there are others out there who have almost given up on their dreams or the things they felt you had promised them because they have been a long time coming. Use your Word to refresh them and to renew their hope. Remind them that they are not forgotten. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

More Resources

2010 in Ten Words or Less

I was reading a blog on January 1st that another minister’s wife had written. It was only ten words long but it spoke to me. It wasn’t a poem or a sentence. It was a list. A list of ten words encapsulated this woman’s experiences in 2010. It gave me pause. If I were to sum up my year in ten words or less, what words would I choose? Would we have any words in common? Would they be more positive than negative or vice versa? What memories and experiences stick out and determine the words I choose? Could I even do it—limit myself to ten words?

In the end, I still haven’t made my list. However, I have spent time praying about the things that I have seen and done in 2010 and the things that I would like to do or to do differently in 2011. It has helped me to focus my attention in a few measureable and achievable New Year’s Resolutions. Who knew that 10 simple words could have such depth?

How would you summarize your 2010 experience in 10 words or less?

Dream Big

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21



This weekend is our church’s DNOW (Disciple Now) weekend. Every year as Jimmy and I plan for DNOW, we sit back in expectation of what God is going to do. This year’s theme is EPIC. We are fully expecting God to come and do Epic things in our lives, the students lives, the adult workers live, and in our church. We are claiming the promise of God that He can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”! I don’t know about you but I can dream pretty big. Still He is able not just to exceed these dreams, He can do IMMEASURABLY MORE than what I can imagine! I can’t even fathom that but I’m not supposed to be able to get it otherwise it wouldn’t be beyond imagination.

How many times have we robbed God of what He wants to do just because we don’t dream big? Seriously, how big is your God?! My God is HUGE! Do I always have faith? Heck no! In the last few years, I have had major struggles in belief and faith. I am just starting to come around and realize that God’s faithfulness has never changed. He is still there waiting for me to ask Him to do big things in my life and in our ministry. Yes, He can do them without me asking Him to do them, but I believe that He wants us to be faithful in asking and He delights in answering our requests. Does He always give us the answer He wants? Heck no! But rest assured God always answers. Sometimes He says “No” or “Wait” and we use our selective hearing and claim that He didn’t give us an answer, but He always, always answers.

So what are you asking God for? Is it in-line with His will? Are you dreaming big? Do you have faith that God can do even more than you can ask or imagine? Try it. Trust God. Believe He can and will answer your prayers. Be faithful in listening for His answer. Be obedient in the things that God asks you to do. Just wait, He’s going to blow your mind!

“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:10