As I move closer to my 40th birthday I have become
so spontaneous over the past few years. I love trying new things. I randomly flew to Austin Texas last year
with Richard for our anniversary and a few months ago I tried Elk steak and it
was delicious. I don’t plan on jumping
out of an airplane anytime soon but to say that I have a new sense of adventure
would be accurate. I have a few things on my bucket including riding an
Elephant in Thailand to flying all over the world. I like the rush that comes with the
anticipation before trying whatever it is new.
At Islands of Adventure in Orlando Florida there is a roller coaster
called The Hulk and it’s incredibly fast and full of twist and flips. The excitement starts before it actually
takes off with you sitting in a tunnel with your feet dangling and green lights
flashing to create the illusion that you are in fact turning into the hulk. It
builds this momentum without even moving and then it literally shoots you out
of the tunnel into your first flip. It is RIVETING!
After thinking about the emotions that surround those moments I was challenged to think about the anticipation and excitement that surrounds my faith. It is easy to say I have faith but often the comfort of my life or the desire of comfort chokes the very passion of living it out with a gut wrenching trust and all out abandon. I am talking about moments where we have everything to lose and yet also everything to gain simply because we were forced to trust God. When God doesn’t seem to come through in a way that we thought we take matters into our own hands by manipulating situations by trying to outsmart the Creator of the universe and yet the only thing revealed is our lack of faith. I believe that faith is the very thing that moves us into a place of full dependency on God because we have to trust Him without knowing what’s around the corner or how things will unfold and choosing to trust anyway. My words of how BIG I believe my God is can be directly reflected in the intensity of how I live my life. For years I begged God to do something in my life with speaking and yet my heart wasn’t ready because I honestly didn’t trust Him and even more embarrassing I didn’t believe His word. I loved God and I desired to follow Him but after looking through stacks of old journals I was dumbfounded at how I viewed Him. Every day I would say things like “give wings to my dreams” and while that sounds pretty and packaged well inside my prayers I didn’t believe God could use me because I didn’t even like myself. I hated my body, I hated who I was. My insecurities became my focus and soon pride was the worship of my heart with the concept of dreaming big being masked as was a way for me to help others somehow escape the pain I was feeling. Through surrender I realized that my self hatred was pride because it was all about me. Scared or hiding from your past mistakes is also a form of pride because God makes all things NEW and uses what the enemy means for bad He transforms for good. Dreaming big doesn’t mean I manipulate or orchestrate my gifting in a way that brings me glory all in the name of Jesus because I am trying to escape struggles. Instead it’s a process of daily surrender as those who surround you watch you look beyond the captivity to the cross of redemption. It’s allowing God to shake the very foundation that we build to move us into a place of deeper intimacy simply because we chose to trust Him. If you had to measure the depth of your faith right now what would it be? What BIG and BOLD things is He calling you to do? There are people in my life that I look to in complete awe at times wondering why in the world things happen the way they do and then I see something that is so evident and that’s the depth of their faith. Are you struggling with your finances, your marriage, your dreams or even your daily routine? Maybe it’s time you position those things for mind blowing faith moments. Revelation 3:8 should encourage you to deepen your faith because literally NO one can shut the door but God himself (or your disobedience). God says this “ I know your works. See I have set before you and open door and NO ONE CAN SHUT IT; for you have a little strength, have kept My word and have not denied My name. “ Take risk today by stepping out of a comfort craved world and take a chance on the God of the universe opening doors that will not only deepen your intimacy with Him but give a world that is in desperate need of hope a glimpse of who God is simply because you chose to exercise your faith because honestly without it it’s impossible to please Him. Hebrews 11: 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him….
Go ahead and DREAM BIG!!
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