Category Archives: Finding your purpose

Tiny acts of faithfulness and a great big God

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How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~Anne Frank

I had a dream that I could change the world and then I got stuck. For years my dream sat rotten inside of me and fear I wasn’t enough kept me paralyzed. I knew my God was not too small but I was stuck.

Then, out of sheer frustration, I called out to God. It’s wasn’t a poetic cry for help with passion that would melt the faces off ice sculptures, it’s was more like a bratty teenage girl cooking dinner and wondering why no one else was helping. “Seriously God, I’m not the only one who wants to eat around here, could you please help me”. If I was God, I’d have smiled and walked away, mumbling under my breath, “do it yourself, you ungrateful punk”. But I’m not God, and that’s not His heart. Instead of condemning me, God sought to restore me. He opened my eyes to the truth of His word and this is what I heard.

Moreover, it is required of stewards, that a man be found faithful. 1 Cor 4:2

Look dreams are great. Wanting to change the world with anything God gives you is great! But know this, dreams are gifts. God gives us dreams to teach us faithfulness. If we walk in faithfulness, we don’t just reach the dream, we reach the Savior, and you don’t have to wait a single minute for that.

A dream is a driving force that catapults you through life. Like bumpers in a bowling alley that help keep us out of the gutter, but they are not the goal. The goal is Jesus. Don’t live for the dream, live for the Savior.

How do you know if you are stuck?

If you’ve ever had a dream to change the world, followed by the thought, “ as soon as xyz happens, I’ll begin living that dream”, then you are stuck. If God has put something in your heart, given you a dream, and gifted you to do it but you are not, it’s because you are stuck.

Getting unstuck.

The good news is, all it takes to get unstuck are tiny steps of faithfulness and huge faith in a capable God. Faithful stewards are conscious, confident, consistent, and committed.

  1. Be Conscious– Ask God to open your eyes to the areas of influence you already have. The cross is meant for the world. ( John 3:16) Right where you are is where God wants to use you! You want to be a missionary in Africa? Start raising money to send to the ones that are there now. You want to be a world evangelist? Start sharing Jesus with co-workers and classmates. You want to see more people praying? Start praying for them, and then invite them to pray with you. You want to help people become better parents? Open your home and let people watch you parent your own kids. Whatever you do, start now! Don’t waste a single minute. Consciousness is a tiny act of faithfulness.
  2. Be Confident– When you are confident that you are walking according to God’s truth, nothing can keep you from being faithful. Study His word as a lamp unto your feet and let Him guide your every step. Know this, if you can take a step without God’s help, your dreams aren’t big enough to change the world. Confidence is a tiny act of faithfulness.
  3. Be Consistent– Here is where it get’s tricky. Consistency is harder than it sounds. Consistency is a “butt in seat” principle of being faithful that nobody really wants to do. It’s about making choices and sticking to them. Ever start a diet you didn’t finish, or a work-out plan and then quit? Changing the world is harder than that, and only God can do it, so if you are going to be a part you’ll have to be consistent. Our flesh hates consistency, in order to be consistent, you’ll want to prepare for battle. Consistency is a tiny act of faithfulness.
  4. Be Committed– Commitment is the A-game, this is what it means to give everything you’ve got. Commitment requires more than consistency, it requires a desire to learn to be better that never goes away. Committed people strive for excellence even after the world tells them they are good enough, or have done enough. Committed people have God-sized dreams, and don’t settle for anything less. Committed people realize they can do nothing apart from God and all things through Him. Commitment is a tiny act of faithfulness.

So you want to change the world? Awesome, me too! Yes, I still want to change the world, but it won’t happen my way. To change the world we need tiny acts of faithfulness and huge faith in a great big God. If we can do it without Him, it’s not worth doing.

Praying for you this week, that God would increase your faith, and empower your faithfulness. This is how we change the world.

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What’s your dream? What tiny act of faithfulness do you need to do?

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“All the world is a stage, and all the men and women are merely players” William Shakespeare

I was in a movie once. In fact I was in an Academy Award winning movie. I played the role of, “a girl”, not “the girl”, but “a girl”. It was a role I was born to play.

Okay so I was just an extra, and there is a slight chance the academy award had nothing to do with me… actually there is also a chance my scene didn’t make it into the movie … I never saw it. Anyway, for the purpose of bucket list #354 “Be in a movie”, check.

Being an extra is a little like crashing a wedding. You come all dressed up, but the party is not for you. I was so excited for my big role as “a girl”, until I got there and realized it wasn’t quite as special as I hoped it would be. I don’t know what I expected, but being crammed into a room with 50 other extras who were all treated like a huge headache that wouldn’t go away, was quite a surprise. The important people on a movie set are the actors and extras aren’t actors…not really…they are more like props. We use props to make something artificial seem sincere, but the prop can’t tell the story. It was awkward, and a little disappointing to realize the best part of being an extra is getting to say that you were in a movie. Yep, pretty lame claim to fame.

Have you ever felt like life is one giant movie but you definitely aren’t a main actor? Maybe you’ve even wished you could be cast as someone else. I know I have. In a world that loves us some celebrities, it’s easy to feel like my role is not that important. But God says I matter, that I belong, and I have the power to tell His story. With God there are no extras, my role is just as important as any other actor. In short, “I am kind of a big deal”, and Christian, so are you.

Here is what the Bible has to say about our role:

  • You are known by God (Rom 8:29; 2 Tim 2:19)- Hands down the most famous director knows you and has from the beginning.
  • You were chosen (Rom. 8:30; Eph. 1:4; 1 Peter 2:9)- God does not make mistakes, you’ve been chosen to play a role in God’s story…He could have played it Himself, but He chose you.
  • You are accepted (Rom 15:7, Eph 1:4-6; 1 Peter 2:10)- You don’t have to hide away as though you don’t belong, you are accepted and welcomed!
  • You are watched (Psalm 121:7-8, Prov 16:9)- not only does the director look your way, He won’t take His eyes off you, and He will direct your every step.
  • You are important (Psalm 96:3; Isaiah 12:4; Matt 28:19-20)- You are important because people need to see Jesus, and He has chosen you to play His child.

You are not a prop, you are a principal character. You can tell a story with your life about a God that saves. There are no extras. No one can play you better than you can.

His audience awaits.

Praying for you this week. That God will pour out His Spirit and make you bold so that many will hear His story through yours.

In loving memory of… me, I hope

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Every time someones death makes headlines, I get an opportunity to think about how I might want my world to remember me. Chances are my death won’t make headlines (unless you count Facebook) but I am certain that I will die… the statistics are alarming. That being said, thinking about life in terms of the impact I want it to have is not a bad a way to live. Life is short, and I hope to make mine count.

  • If I was a good wife, I hope they say I loved one man and loved him well. That I respected him and became a crown on his head and not a thorn in his flesh. I hope they say that I encouraged him to dream even bigger by standing beside him when times were hard. I think it’d be best if I “went” first… this might even out the score for all the times I kept him a praying man.
  • If I was a good mom, I hope they say I fought for my kids, even when it sometimes sent me to a padded room. I hope they say I sacrificed pieces of me so that my children would feel nurtured and blanketed.
  • If I was a good daughter I hope they say I eventually rescued my parents from the padded room I sent them to in my teens. I hope they say my life brought them honor and not shame. I hope they say that I was grateful and I never let them forget it.
  • If I was a good friend, I hope they say I laid down my life for them. That being my friend built them up and did not tear them down. I hope they say I smiled, even when it hurt, and challenged them to do the same. I hope they know I was sometimes silly because I’d rather see them laugh at me then not laugh at all.
  • If I was a good mentor, I hope they say I had no secrets. Instead, I lived my life an open book so that their reach far outstretched mine.
  • If I was good student, I hope they say that I listened well and didn’t waste their time. I hope they say my wish was never to be them, but to learn from them that Jesus in me was the only reflection I needed.
  • And if I had talent, I hope they say I worked my butt off to multiply it. That I didn’t settle for what was easy or natural but that I took what God gave me and did everything I could with everything I had to get better, to grow, and to go to the ends of the earth with it so that Jesus would be glorified through it.
At the end of my life, I hope God says well done, that I fought the good fight, and that I was faithful until the end.
When I started writing this, I was thinking of all the time I had to get this right before I die. Since none of us are promised tomorrow, however, I hope I live this wish list out every day, by God’s grace, starting today.
How do you want your world to remember you? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear.

The Stand

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I should have minded my own business, that’s the lie I heard today.

When I saw a woman weeping, And I couldn’t look away.

**

I couldn’t close my eyes, she wasn’t going anywhere,

and it seemed a little awkward to pretend I didn’t care

**

I had no remedy for her heartbreak, Nothing I had quite seemed to fit.

I was helpless to console her, but somehow I would not quit.

**

I couldn’t heal her broken heart, I couldn’t take back what she lost,

And how could I convince her, anything was worth the cost?

**

You see, I’ve never lost a child, but then, even if I had

Her pain would not be my pain, and she’d still ache just as bad

**

What she needed in that moment, I was powerless to give,

But I told her about a God, who sent His son that she might live.

**

He’s counted every teardrop, and He knows each star by name,

And although sorrow overwhelms us, by His mercy, He sustains

**

It took 10 minutes from my day, To stand and listen to her share,

And I saw joy in troubled eyes, amazed that anyone would care

**

To take 10 minutes of my time, on a pretty normal day,

To stand and listen to a stranger, when I could have walked away.

**

I should have minded my own business, besides, what would people say,

Certainly, I had an angle, or some great reward along the way.

**

So here it is, my driving factor, the motivation of my heart,

There are too many hurting people, and loving them is just a start.

**

If I don’t give them Jesus, I’ve not really loved at all.

I’ve just covered up their wounds, and laid thin padding for their fall.

**

He is the only one who heals.

He is the only one who saves.

He is the alpha and omega.

He is the Name above all Names.

**

And He came to break the chains of sin, to set the captives free,

But in minding my own business, I forget, those are the chains, that once held me.

***************************************************

Sometimes I meet people who make me want to be more like Jesus. Not because of what they do, but because I realize I am powerless to help them. He is enough.

What are some of the obstacles you face when reaching out to hurting people? I’d love to pray for you.

God bless you as you grow in love.

Why I Blog

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Ever think your reality is a little dull? It would take 700 hours of heavily edited footage to produce a 1 hour reality show on my life. Even then, I am not sure it would be interesting enough to keep most people from changing the channel. My life, like many others, doesn’t usually have enough highs or lows to amount to cables idea of good t.v. Why then, do I blog on everyday occurrences? Here is why:

  1. They challenge me to take my thoughts captive. Sometimes my thoughts run wild and can become a dangerous playground for lies. Blogging is an exercise of taking those thoughts captive and asking God to expose lies and teach truth.
  2. They enable me to share the power of scripture. I see biblical principles in mundane things and I share truth thru them. I like to tell stories. The stories alone are powerless, they are just me having fun and being who God made me, the power is in the purpose behind each story. The heart of every post is just this: I love God’s word, it’s powerful, and it speaks to me. When God speaks, I listen. Then sometimes I blog.
  3. They invite. You and I might never get a chance to sit down and share our hearts over tea. With this blog, and the stories shared, I’m inviting you to listen and engage in an ongoing conversation I have with the Lord. Why would you want to? You might not… but since you’ve read this far, I will say this: I feel called by God to extend the invitation, it’s really up to Him who actually comes. There are a lot of lies floating around on the web, I’d like to be a part of adding a little Truth. If you’d like to partner with me, you can by sharing this blog with friends, leaving comments, or sharing your own story in an e-mail.
Pursuing Gods purpose in life never gets dull, because even thru ordinary occurrences God speaks, directs, and challenges the believer. Find something you love and serve God thru it.
Ask yourself these three questions:
Does what you are doing:
  • Challenge you in a weak area
  • Enable you to share the gospel and the power of Scripture
  • Invite others into the conversation (ie discipleship)
If you can answer yes, then do that thing with everything that you have. If not, why not?
Praying you would know God’s purpose for your life this week.
Be a part of this conversation:
What are some of the things you do that challenge, enable and invite? What are some of the difficulties you’ve experienced?