Pushing hard to make something happen can feel really good. Our best nights of sleep may come after a day of rising to challenges. When we walk in alignment with the words of Colossians, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord," we often find joy and fulfillment.

What's the difference, then, between working hard to achieve a result and the trendy practice of manifesting? In an excerpt from her new book, Habits of Resistance, published at CT, author Elizabeth Woodson encourages Christians to distinguish between the two practices.

"While being intentional about our life choices can get us closer to our goals, sometimes, no matter how hard we work, things do not go in our favor," writes Woodson. "We can do all the things to manifest good health and still get cancer. We can try to manifest a spouse and stay single for years. Sadly, when the formula we’ve created doesn’t work, we rarely question the formula, but attribute our failure to user error."

It's not that working hard or wanting an outcome is wrong. It's that, as humans, we have limits. Sometimes things fall apart. Sometimes our labor of love crumbles. And yet, the God who is limitless looks on us with mercy and compassion, eager to comfort us amid our dashed dreams.

May we trust God's vision for our lives, working heartily, as unto him. And may we take heart in the fact that while we cannot manifest everything we desire, we are the object of his desire—and that's so much better.