“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” — Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

 

Every morning, I ask God to direct the tasks I schedule for the week—and to equip me for each day’s work.

Recently, I received the idea of a countdown clock on my blog. It would tick away the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until my inspirational romance, Calculated Risk, is available.

Then I thought, “You’ve no idea how to add a countdown clock. And adding one might mess up your new website. It’ll have zip return on marketing your book, anyway.”

Then an idea slid in: “You prayed for a blog post topic. You could blog about a nifty countdown clock on your sidebar.”

I imagined you scrolling down to my countdown clock. I pictured your mesmerized faces as you watched the seconds tick away.

Had God given me this blog idea, or was He up to something else? I decided to tackle the daunting task.

I asked Google oodles of questions. The answers were over my head. I almost quit, but decided to open another search result.

I downloaded a countdown clock. Since I speak little HTML and was clueless as to what to do with the folders of code, I trashed the download.

I was torn between easier research on a different topic and your mesmerized faces. I decided to try one more Google search result.

Tweetable

When things go awry, picturing a good end result helps to keep you persevering. Click to tweet. 

Then, I received warnings that tasks I was doing were not secure. A giant caterpillar replaced your mesmerized faces. I imagined it chomping its way through my new website.

Maybe God was closing the door on the silly countdown clock.

Then—bling!—I remembered. My new website is self-hosted on WordPress.org. I narrowed my Google inquiries to countdown plugins on WordPress.

The online trail quickly led to Step by Step Guide to Install a WordPress Plugin for Beginners. Beginners! Hurray! Hurray!

I chose the method the author said was “by far the easiest way of installing a WordPress plugin” (if the plugin was in the WordPress plugin directory).

No nasty troll had written the directions. They were easy! And the directory had countdown plugins!

Soon, a countdown plugin appeared in my Widgets.

During ten setup attempts, no countdown clock appeared on my blog’s sidebar. Maybe I’d believed God’s agreement with the project too soon.

I decided to try one more thing.

Tweetable

Before giving up, try one more thing—a different thing, of course. Click to tweet.

I put a checkmark in a box and—tada—a working countdown clock appeared.

You put your keying hand in,
you put your keying hand out,
you put your keying hand in,
and you shake it all about.

You do the persevering pokey,
and praise the Lord Your God. 

That’s what it’s all about.

Soon, I’ll have marketing tasks I’ve never done. I think God used the frivolous countdown clock to show me I can do these tasks through His strength, if I don’t give up.

What techie’s task have you persevered in and succeeded?