How Big is Your But
By Drenda Keesee
How big is your but?
Okay, no, I’m not talking about the size of your derriere.
That’s “but” spelled B-U-T.
“But, God, I can’t.”
“But, God, I don’t know how to do that….”
If you aren’t careful, your BUT can really get in the way of your dreams!
If you try, you can find a million excuses why you can’t obey God. How about a reason why you can? Or why you should? In fact, the Bible says there is no question of “can” or “can’t.”
“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes” (Mark 9:23, NLT).
Stop letting the question of “Can I?” hold you back and cripple you with doubt. You have to get your BUT out of the way!
Dennis and Nancy’s story is a great illustration of what can happen when we let go of our doubts, our failures, and our excuses.
Dennis and his wife, Nancy, had three beautiful boys: six-year-old twins, Brock and Brayden, and four-year-old Bryce. They wanted to have one more child—a little girl.
They were so excited when Nancy got pregnant, but soon after, she miscarried.
She miscarried three more times after that, for a total of four miscarriages in a two-year span. Each time they felt like their faith failed and it became harder to get back up and try again.
Doctors couldn’t figure out why this was happening. Dennis and Nancy prayed and asked God to reveal what was causing the problem. God showed them two specific things that they needed to deal with, one of which was unforgiveness.
They forgave people in their past and decided to step out in faith again because they knew that what God said was all of the evidence they needed. Nancy approached me, and we came into agreement that she would never miscarry again.
Shortly after, Nancy got pregnant again.
She had signs of a miscarriage early on in the pregnancy, but this time she refused to speak a single word of doubt or fear over the baby—and at full-term, she gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl!
At the same time, Dennis and Nancy were standing in faith for their baby girl, they were also having difficulties in their finances. They had struggled financially for the entire duration of their marriage. They decided if these principles worked for a baby, they could also work for their finances!
Dennis had been managing a small store of 11 employees at that time. That same business had two locations, and he was managing the smaller one. The general manager of the larger store decided to resign, and Dennis was one of three candidates to interview for that job.
He was unanimously chosen for the promotion!
He now oversees 160 employees and his income has doubled!
I told you Dennis and Nancy’s story for a very specific reason. You see, Dennis and Nancy could have made excuses. They could have said it didn’t work before, so there’s no point in trying again. But they didn’t, and the choice to ignore those excuses and let go of their doubt radically changed their lives!
So, let me ask you…
What But God is keeping you from writing your success story?
Too many times as believers we ask ourselves, “What is it going to cost me? What price am I going to pay?” Before we know it, we’ve renewed our minds and talked ourselves out of being bold and courageous.
Your excuses and mental boundaries will hold you back from what God has for you. “But God, I can’t do that. But God, that’s impossible. But God, it didn’t work before.” Make the choice today to get your BUT out of the way!
For more tools on letting go of doubt and disappointment, I would strongly encourage you to check out my book, Better Than You Think: Six Ways to Think Your Way to Success. It is an awesome resource for renewing your mind!
~ Drenda
Excerpted and adapted from Drenda’s book, The New Vintage Family.
Click here to order your copy of The New Vintage Family book.
For a LIMITED TIME, you can also get your own New Vintage Family Package, which contains Drenda’s book The New Vintage Family, as well as a teaching she did on how to take vacations with your family called Make It Fun, and more!
Click here to order your copy of the New Vintage Family Package.
Listen in Now to Faith Life Church!
Drenda Keesee’s contagious zeal and humorous personal experiences help make her ministry of spiritual, emotional and relational wholeness one that will bless your life and spark a new fire in your spirit.
A wife of over 30 years and a mother of five children, Drenda has ministered at churches, seminars, and conferences, and through the mediums of television and radio, for more than 20 years.
Her books, The New Vintage Family, Better Than You Think, and She Gets It are available wherever books are sold. In these heartfelt books, Drenda shares her personal journey and the life lessons that have brought her to where she is today, as well as practical answers that all people need to live a joyful life.
Drenda and her husband Gary founded Faith Life Now, a ministry designed to spread the message of freedom in the areas of finances, faith, marriage, and family. Tune in for their weekly messages here. Faith Life Now hosts conferences worldwide, and sponsors both Fixing the Money Thing, which Drenda co-hosts with her husband Gary, and Drenda.
Through their own life experiences, the Keesee’s have found the principles from God’s Word to be powerful and effective. At one point, Drenda was a young, suicidal feminist with no hope of ever being “good enough” for her own standards of perfection. She never wanted the “inconvenience” of a husband or children, and she was on her own path to success. But the stress of trying to achieve perfection and perform for love left her broken and used. She had success, but it was nothing compared to the pain and loneliness it had also brought.
That’s when God got a hold of her heart. It was there—at her lowest point—that she found the One who accepted and loved her, faults and all. Since that transformation, Drenda has had a passion to reach women who find themselves where she once was.
She married Gary after attending college, and there she found herself in a personal boot camp of sorts. She says, “I cried and told God, ‘I can do anything but be a wife and mother.’” She committed to learning how to do it God’s way. Through the many years of raising their children and struggling to make ends meet, Drenda learned from their mistakes. “I didn’t know how to be a wife and mother, but God saved our marriage, taught us how to parent our children for success, showed us how to have financial success, and then irony of all ironies, He called us to ministry.” It’s truly because of these life experiences that Drenda can now share so many insightful principles for people who are now going through the same struggles.
