The Voice Said

You ever feel like you’re standing at the base of a huge mountain, hopelessly staring to the top?

Feelings that you’re overwhelmed and under equipped grip your heart and seem to glue your feet to the ground.

I remember feeling like this when I arrived in Kaohsiung, Taiwan as a young missionary, tasked with learning Mandarin Chinese well enough to teach and preach for a 2 year mission trip.

A foreign land, a foreign people, a foreign language – my task felt impossible.

Last year, in the middle of our family’s first fix and flip venture, I felt those feelings again.

One day, after firing a contractor who owed us $5,000 – I stood in the living room – surrounded by a house that had been torn down to the studs.

With practically zero construction or renovation experience, I felt like I wanted to drop to my knees and cry, at the base of that mountain.

Then, in the midst of my darkness – a ray of light shone through to my mind and spoke these words,

…’No one is coming to save you Paul.’

I realized – if it was to be – it was up to me.

My spirit seemed to straighten up, and despite the enormity of the mountain in front of me, I started to climb.

1 step at a time.

I started with what I could do, and when I ran into something I couldn’t – I asked for help or figured it out when I got there.

Believe it or not, I made it to the top, and finished the project.

Maybe the voice was right.