DON’T QUIT IN THE dip
“There’s hope for tomorrow and healing from yesterday. For emptiness, I have given hope. For brokenness, I have given healing.”
The quote above is the core of the author’s church. Have you given your best attempt at the chess game of life but still felt cornered? Checkmated. Have you wished a chess champion would shout out the move that would turn things around? Shaun Nepstad is a fifth generation preacher on both sides of his family. His message in this book is relatable because like he says, we’ve all been in a dip at one point or another. Maybe you’re there now. The slumped-down place in life is what he calls “the dip.” There are many things that make us want to quit…
Shaun Nepstad says: “The dip is where your dream is just out of reach and you feel stuck…we all have a dream but there is always a dip before you get there. Sadly, most people give up in the dip. But successful people don’t quit in the dip and they’re the ones who see their dream fulfilled. When we are out of moves, God has a countermove. As a chess champion, God sees what we don’t see in our lives…the devil loves trying to make you believe there is no more time on the clock. To get you frazzled. To get you to make a rash decision. To get you to believe it’s over. But it’s not over yet.”
Within the pages of this book, we find hope to continue forward even though the devil hands us “shovels” to dig a deeper pit. A warning just before Chapter 3 is this: “Be careful you don’t let feelings lead you over principles….It’s never too late to start doing what’s right. The most exciting plays in a game are buzzer beaters. Last- second turnarounds. Comebacks.” So true!! In my own obstacles and setbacks, I have done one thing Shaun did and it proved to be a cycle breaker. Prayer. Making it “top priority and number one strategy.” He reminds us to “talk with God- He will answer and show us wonderful and marvelous things.”
For me, a big part of not quitting is continuing to do meaningful things in the mean time that keep my focus before the harvest of blessings get here. The Pastor author of Don’t Quit in the Dip, had major personal discouraging moments. But he says he climbed out of the dip through prayer, applying key systems to help people discover their purpose and a place for them to make a difference. Their church began to grow. They implemented all the wisdom God had provided through those prayer meetings. It’s just a matter of time before the desired results show up. They will show up. I say this a lot. We wait and wait. But one day, it is actually going to show up!
See, as Shaun points out- Joseph had every reason to quit in the dip, but he didn’t. “And the Lord was with Joseph.” He is with me too. He is with you. To see you to the other side. “Your destiny is on the other side of your dip!” I believe the saving of many lives (Gen. 50:20) is something specific to proclaim. Souls have always mattered to God. If you get to a place where you are seeing the salvation of many, you’ve quite possibly reached your destiny. Have you chosen to serve others in some way? Have you helped them experience less harm, ruin, or loss? The saving of others due to acting on wisdom, is a God destiny. Like Shaun, I cried out to God many times to pick someone else to complete my calling. God never has taken no as a final answer from me. “Only God can offer us the deep satisfaction that our hearts are longing for.” It’s sad that “most people quit before discovering this.”
Finally, to get out of the dip and have more in life, we need things in the right order and “we need to do what Jesus says. Jesus prophesied vision into Peter’s brokenness. From now on, you will be so much more than a man who catches fish. You will become a leader who catches people and changes their eternal destinies.” “It would have been easier to walk away from empty nets. That would have been no sacrifice. But Peter walked away from full nets.” “Sometimes we come to God for what we want and leave with what we need.” “If you are reading this and have allowed your life to get out of order, God has installed a reset button! In 1 John 1:9, we read this promise: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When you reset the order, He resets your heart- Resets your life to the manufacturer settings.”
That’s getting out of a dip! Winston Churchill: “Success is going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.” “The Formula 409 cleaner got its name from two young scientists determined to make the ultimate grease-cutting cleaner on the market. They didn’t get the chemical recipe right until the 409th try.” WOAH. Have we tried 409 times to not fail? Shaun shares that “faith is not about knowing the how. It’s about obeying the Who….tests help lead you into a new season.” He says there was a time when their daughters would cry about doing their schoolwork: “Dad, why do we have to learn this?” His response to their question was, “To get to the next level. Tests help lead you into a new season. Graduation. Promotion. Advancement. No one simply arrives. John Maxwell once told me: No one ever quit their way to the top. So let’s make a pact to never quit in the dip!
This book will push you to keep going, gives answers for leaving all our dips behind, and reminds us that even preachers are not exempt from devastating times where they do not see a way out. It was written just before a time the world would desperately need encouragement to escalate. I recommend it and I hope you have enjoyed this book review on behalf of Faith Words and Hachette Book Group!
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