Theme of The Day: When Starting Again Feels Impossible
Monday returns, and this time it’s different in ways you didn’t anticipate when you started December with such optimism about what three weeks of sustained effort would produce.
Week Four. The week where every shred of novelty has evaporated. Where every excuse about why you can’t continue has been exhausted.
Where the gap between what you hoped December would be and what it actually is feels wider than the gap between where you started and where you are now.
Most people don’t make it to Week Four Monday.
They quit during Week Two when results didn’t match expectations.
They abandoned ship during Week Three when continuation required more than they thought they had to give.
They used the weekend to convince themselves that three weeks was enough and Week Four is asking too much.
But you’re here. Reading this.
Considering whether to choose Monday again when choosing Monday has become the hardest choice you make each week because Monday stopped being a fresh start and became a continuation that requires showing up without any reward except the opportunity to prove you’re still committed.
Today’s theme is about the brutal honesty of Week Four Monday that tests whether commitment was ever real or just enthusiasm wearing a commitment costume for three impressive weeks.
Bible Verses of The Day: Morning Study
“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Galatians 6:9 English Standard Version (ESV)
Meaning of Galatians 6:9 and How to Apply It
Paul addresses exactly what you’re feeling this Week Four Monday morning.
“Let us not grow weary of doing good” acknowledges the exhaustion is real and the temptation to quit is legitimate, and three weeks of sustained effort without visible transformation creates weariness that goes deeper than physical tiredness.
“For in due season we will reap” promises harvest is coming.
But notice the timing, which is due season, not your preferred season or the timeline you decided was reasonable when you started in December, thinking three weeks would produce a breakthrough you could celebrate.
“If we do not give up” adds the critical condition.
The harvest is certain, but only for those who persist through Week Four Monday when giving up makes more sense than continuing because continuing offers nothing except more of what you’ve already been doing for three weeks.
This Monday morning, you’re weary in ways Week One Monday never was.
Back then, you had excitement and optimism and belief that effort would produce proportional results.
Now you have the reality that three weeks of faithful showing up haven’t transformed you visibly, and Week Four is asking you to continue anyway.
Paul says don’t give up now.
The harvest is coming in due season.
You’re closer than discouragement wants you to believe.
Quitting on Week Four Monday means wasting the foundation you’ve been building for twenty-one consecutive days.
Apply this by recognizing weariness is normal, but quitting isn’t necessary.
Being exhausted doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. Week Four is supposed to feel this hard, and that’s exactly what makes continuing through it powerful.
Say: “I’m weary but not giving up on Week Four Monday. The harvest is coming in due season and I’m not quitting before breakthrough I can’t see approaching.”
Pray: “God I’m exhausted after three weeks and Week Four feels impossible but help me not grow weary to the point of giving up. Help me trust harvest is coming even when I can’t see it growing.”
Bible Verses of The Day: Afternoon Study
“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31 English Standard Version (ESV)
Meaning of Isaiah 40:31 and How to Apply It
Isaiah is writing to exiles who are exhausted from waiting and wondering if God’s promises will ever materialize.
“They who wait for the Lord” means those who maintain expectant trust, not passive resignation, while circumstances suggest nothing’s changing.
“Shall renew their strength” promises fresh capacity.
Not the strength you started December with, that’s been depleted over three weeks, but new strength for Week Four that comes from waiting on God, not from manufacturing your own motivation.
“They shall mount up with wings like eagles” describes soaring, but notice the progression continues. “They shall run and not be weary” comes next.
Then “they shall walk and not faint,” which is actually what you need most on Monday afternoon, when walking without fainting matters more than soaring.
By Monday afternoon, you’re not asking for soaring strength. You’re asking for the capacity to keep walking without collapsing.
You don’t need a dramatic breakthrough.
You need endurance to continue through Week Four when Week Four feels like endless repetition of what you’ve already done.
Isaiah says waiting on the Lord renews strength for exactly what you need.
Sometimes that’s soaring. Often it’s running. Most days in Week Four, it’s walking without fainting, which is a miracle enough when faintness feels inevitable.
Apply this by lowering expectations from soaring to walking and recognizing that the strength to walk through Monday afternoon without fainting is exactly what waiting on God provides, even when you wanted something more dramatic.
Say: “I’m waiting on God to renew my strength for Week Four. I don’t need soaring today. I need capacity to walk through Monday without fainting and that’s enough.”
Bible Verses of The Day: Evening Study
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 English Standard Version (ESV)
Meaning of Lamentations 3:22-23 and How to Apply It
Jeremiah is writing from devastation. Jerusalem is destroyed. Everything is lost.
Yet he declares God’s steadfast love never ceases, which means it doesn’t stop even when circumstances suggest God has abandoned you to struggle through Week Four alone.
“His mercies never come to an end” uses plural because there are multiple mercies for multiple moments.
“They are new every morning,” promises fresh compassion for each day, including this Monday that required mercy you didn’t have stored from previous weeks.
“Great is your faithfulness” is a declaration, not wishful thinking.
God’s faithfulness is proven reality, not hopeful aspiration.
He’s been faithful through three weeks, which means His faithfulness will sustain Week Four even when you feel incapable of sustaining yourself.
Monday evening brings the doubt that always surfaces when new weeks begin, and you’re facing six more days that look exactly like the twenty-one you’ve already survived.
Maybe God was faithful through Week Three, but He’s tired of carrying you by Week Four.
Maybe His mercies were new through previous mornings, but they’re depleted now.
Jeremiah says absolutely not. God’s steadfast love never ceases.
His mercies are new this Monday evening. His faithfulness is great enough for Week Four Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and every day ahead, regardless of how many weeks December requires.
Apply this by trusting God’s faithfulness for Week Four instead of relying on your own depleted capacity.
His mercies are new for Monday evening, even when you feel like you’re running on fumes from three weeks of sustained effort.
Say: “God’s mercies are new this Monday evening. His steadfast love hasn’t ceased just because I’m exhausted. His faithfulness is great enough for Week Four even when mine feels depleted.”
The Start of Week Four
Rest tonight as someone who started Week Four when starting felt impossible.
You chose Monday again. Not because Monday got easier.
Because you decided continuation matters more than comfort, and commitment means something only when it survives past the point where quitting makes sense.
Tomorrow is Tuesday, and you know exactly what Tuesday brings.
The repetition grind. The question of whether showing up again matters. The temptation to coast because you’ve already proven yourself by starting Week Four at all.
Don’t coast. Show up fully tomorrow. Week Four Tuesday matters as much as Week One Tuesday, even though it feels less significant.
Actually, it matters more because it proves continuation capacity, not just initiation enthusiasm.
Week Four will test you in ways previous weeks couldn’t.
The challenge keeps evolving.
What sustained you through Week One won’t necessarily sustain you through Week Four.
You’ll need new mercies for new mornings and fresh strength for familiar challenges that feel harder the fourth time around.
But God’s faithfulness doesn’t diminish in Week Four. His mercies don’t run out. His steadfast love doesn’t cease just because you’re tired of needing it.
He’s as committed to completing what He started in you as He was on December first when this whole thing began.
You made it to Week Four Monday. Most people don’t.
You’re building something real through sustained commitment that survives without novelty or validation or visible progress.
That’s rare. That’s valuable.
That’s exactly what transformation requires, even when transformation feels invisible.
Tomorrow’s coming. You’re ready as you’ll ever be.
Week Four is here, whether you feel prepared or not. Choose Tuesday when it arrives the same way you chose Monday today.
One day at a time. One choice at a time. One week at a time until December’s done.
Say This Prayer
God, thank You for Week Four Monday. Thank You for the strength to start again when starting felt impossible.
Thank You for sustaining commitment through three weeks that proves Your faithfulness, not my capacity.
Help me not grow weary to the point of giving up. I’m exhausted, but help me continue.
The harvest is coming in due season, and help me not quit before the breakthrough I can’t see approaching.
Renew my strength for Week Four. I don’t need soaring today.
I need the capacity to walk without fainting, and help me trust that’s exactly what waiting on You provides.
Your mercies are new this Monday evening. Your steadfast love hasn’t ceased. Your faithfulness is great enough for Week Four, even when mine feels completely depleted.
Forgive me for wanting to quit on Week Four Monday. For thinking three weeks was enough. For measuring commitment by how I feel instead of whether I showed up, regardless of feelings.
This December, help me understand Week Four tests whether commitment is real.
Help me choose continuation when quitting makes sense.
Help me trust Your faithfulness sustains what my capacity can’t.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Evang. Anabelle Thompson is the founder of Believers Refuge, a Scripture-based resource that helps Christians to find biblical guidance for life’s challenges.
With over 15 years of ministry experience and a decade of dedicated Bible study, she creates content that connects believers with relevant Scripture for their daily struggles.
Her work has reached over 76,000 monthly readers (which is projected to reach 100,000 readers by the end of 2025) seeking practical faith applications, biblical encouragement, and spiritual guidance rooted in God’s Word.
She writes from personal experience, having walked through seasons of waiting, breakthrough, and spiritual growth that inform her teaching.
Evang. Thompson brings 12 years of active ministry and evangelism experience, along with over 10 years of systematic Bible study and theological research.
As a former small group leader and Sunday school teacher, she has published over 200 biblical resources and devotional studies.
She specializes in applying Scripture to everyday life challenges and regularly studies the original Hebrew and Greek texts for a deeper biblical understanding.