Do Something: Turning Your Little Into Something Great

I believe a lot of people never do certain things in life because they think they can’t do enough to make a difference. If that’s you, I want to share two little words that can literally change your life—do something.

Let me give you an example. My husband Dave has been exercising and working out for 55 years. As a result, he looks great and enjoys good health. Well, for years he encouraged me to exercise, but my reply was always the same: “I’m too busy!”

I didn’t think there was a way for me to keep all of my commitments and travel as much as I do and also exercise. I figured that just when I got started on a routine, I would have to leave town and it would destroy any progress I made.

However, the Lord continue to deal with me about exercising and taking care of my body, So, I finally decided that I was going to do what I could do instead of being concerned about what I couldn’t do.

I decided that doing something was better than doing nothing—even it meant exercising for only 10 minutes a week!

As a result of making that decision 12 years ago, I now work out with a trainer three times a week and I walk five miles every morning. And it all started with a decision to just do something!

Maybe you’re in debt so deep that you can’t foresee ever getting ahead. As a result, you’re tempted to not pay your bills at all and go spend more money. But even if you paid one dollar a week toward your bills, it’s still better than doing nothing at all, and you are at least moving in the right direction.

There are a lot of things we can do in life, but there’s one thing we must never do—nothing. Because the more we do nothing, the more we’re going to have nothing good happening in our lives.

This same principle applies to reaching out to other people. Many times, I think we look at what we don’t have and how we can’t help other people instead of focusing on what we do have and what we can do.

When Jesus was getting ready to feed the 5,000, he asked the disciples, “How many loaves do you have?” (see Mark 6:38) Then they proceeded to tell him how little they had. But we all know the story. Jesus took five loaves and two fish, then multiplied it to feed the multitudes.

Like the loaves and fish, God simply wants us to be willing to give Him what we do have. Even though it may not be enough, He can then multiply it and do a miracle.

When we see the needs in the world, we tend to immediately think, “I can’t do that!” But we can all do something. And if we all decide to do a little bit, then together our “little bit” becomes a whole lot and we become a powerful force for good in this world!

I want to share a touching example. During our conferences, we often show a video about our water well projects around the world. Water is something most of us take for granted. However, in many remote areas, people walk for miles each day just to get dirty, diseased water that eventually makes them sick.

Last year, ten-year-old twins Brianna and Bethany attended my conference with their mother. That weekend, they saw our story about young Olivia, a girl their age, who lives in Africa. Tragically, Olivia’s sister died from drinking the dirty water in their village.

As twins, the thought of losing a sister deeply affected them and it inspired them to jump into action! They obviously didn’t have $10,000 to dig a well, but they decided to do something. So, they made the little bracelets and went door to door selling them, raising money for world missions.

Then, at one of our recent conferences, they brought me a shoe box containing a little over $200 dollars in it. It blessed me so much—they decided they weren’t going to do nothing!

There was also another group of ladies who recently heard me teach on this subject—the power of joining together to accomplish great things. So, they decided to start something. They got 21 families together to hold a large garage sale, then donated the $2,100 they made to world missions.

You see, all it takes is one person who decides to “start something”: one person to start the Bible study in your neighborhood; one person to start the bake sale to raise money for missions at your church. It just takes one person to step up and say, “Maybe I can’t do all of it, but I can do something.’

One of the reasons why a lot of people are unhappy is because they aren’t doing anything to help anybody else.

God created us to reach out and help other people—not to always focus inward, but to also focus outward. As we do, we experience tremendous joy and find there’s no greater way to live.

So, when in doubt, just do something.

If you need to exercise, then start with five minutes a week. And if you can’t exercise, then at least move around, and get your blood flowing!

Maybe your house is a big mess and you’re simply overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning it all up. If so, I encourage you to start with something—clean out a drawer, organize one closet or begin by washing even just one dish.

And together we can look at the problems in the world and in other people’s lives and say, “I can help. I can do something about it. I may not be able to do it all, but with God’s help, I will do something.”