Pursuing the Dream

My life has been changing a lot lately. A year ago, we moved. Six month ago, I got a new full-time job. One month ago, We found out the date for Jimmy's Surgery. In a few days, one of my little sisters will be married!

All this change has got me thinking...Am I really doing/accomplishing the things that I want to in my life?

I believe that the answer is that I am on the right track. I love art--always have and always will. I never really considered it as a career choice until a few years ago. So my career is in a totally different field and I have missed out on years of honing my abilities but I am not going to let that stop me!

Instead I have decided to pursue the dream! I am setting tangible goals to help me move in the right direction. I know that accomplishing these goals will only make my dream stronger and more sustainable. I am seeking the advice of friends and family members, and I am spending time in Bible Study and prayer about my future. It's great to know that I am not in this alone!

One of the best things is that God can use graphic design and web design to bring people to himself--so I am still doing missions! There is a day that I could see a healthier, slimmer Jimmy and a more practiced Christiana moving to another country to be an event coordinator and a designer but also be working as missionaries to spread the gospel to a country that is normally closed.

When you are pursuing God's dream for your life then your possibilities are endless!


More Resources: Check out the Printable Christmas Card Special I am running to help support my dream.

James 4: Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

I hope you get a chuckle out the picture I am including with this weeks blog. it made me smile so I felt like I had to include it. I know that many times in my childhood I was told, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." This is a good principle in general, but did you know that it is also a biblical principle?

Over and over again the Bible tells us to consider the cost. It's important to think ahead and know what you are getting yourself into, but there is a real difference between thinking ahead and counting your chickens before they hatch--or what we affectionately call in our house "pulling a James 4". Allow me to explain.

As Christians, we should think before we act. We should plan ahead and consider the cost and possible outcomes of our actions before we just jump into things (Luke 14:28-32). This is considered a matter of good practice and when we don't think ahead we are considered foolish. I have said it before and I will say it again--anything taken to the extreme is bad. Basically the way that I see it is that "counting your chickens before they hatch" or "pulling a James 4" is taking planning ahead to the extreme.

In James chapter 4, we are told the story of an individual or group of individuals that start to make all these plans for their lives years and years in advance...

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:13 & 14

I don't think that the planning in and of itself was what was bad. It was the attitude behind it. James warns these individuals that they don't know what their lives hold. Then he points out the real problem--these people have taken God out of the planning!

"Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil." James 4: 15 & 16

When you take God out of the planning and out of the equation you begin to rely solely on yourself. Verse 16 goes so far as to call it evil. Are you asking God what He has planned for your life or are you planning it all out for yourself? Are you assuming that you know what's best or are you relying on God to direct your paths? Don't count your chickens before they hatch. Go to God and make Him the active leader in planning for your life.

Living the Dream

Have you ever felt that you were meant for something more? Are you satisfied with where you are in life with your family, job, or career? I don't know about you but I have wondered if I will ever find my dream job.

Friday, I received my copy of Dave Ramsey's e-newsletter in my email inbox. I don't know if you are familiar with Dave Ramsey or not but around our house we affectionately call him "Uncle Dave". Anyway... I was caught by one of the first headings this month called This Way to Your Dream Job. Now stop right there for a minute. It's not that I hate what I do. I just dream of so much more than being an Administrative Assistant.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...The article is based on the book Quitters by Jon Acuff. As the article puts it, Acuff says

I think finding your dream job or what Sinek calls your “WHY” is more than a revelation or an act of discovery. I believe it’s a process of recovery.


More often than not, finding out what you love doing most is about recovering an old love or an inescapable truth that has been silenced for years, even decades. When you come to your dream job, your thing, it is rarely a first encounter. It’s usually a reunion. So instead of setting out to discover this thing you love doing, you’ve got to change your thinking and set out to recover it, maybe even rescue it.

This really ressonated with me today. It got me to thinking about the art classes that I have been taking at Saint Louis Community College and about the things I used to say like "I don't think that I would be good at being stuck behind a desk all day" or "I don't like talking on the phone" and I realized that I think God has something more for me.

I have felt God's call on my life to be in full-time ministry since I was in sixth or seventh grade. I know that God is calling me to use the gifts and talents and passions he has given me to serve Him. Now I just need to re-discover that calling in my life, and it's scary! Maybe His calling is SO much more for me than being an Administrative Assistant at the Missouri Baptist Children's Home. Yes, that's missions and ministry, but is that the ministry God has design for me. I guess we will just have to pray and see!

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'" Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

Buy Quitter by Jon Acuff

2010 in Ten Words or Less

I was reading a blog on January 1st that another minister’s wife had written. It was only ten words long but it spoke to me. It wasn’t a poem or a sentence. It was a list. A list of ten words encapsulated this woman’s experiences in 2010. It gave me pause. If I were to sum up my year in ten words or less, what words would I choose? Would we have any words in common? Would they be more positive than negative or vice versa? What memories and experiences stick out and determine the words I choose? Could I even do it—limit myself to ten words?

In the end, I still haven’t made my list. However, I have spent time praying about the things that I have seen and done in 2010 and the things that I would like to do or to do differently in 2011. It has helped me to focus my attention in a few measureable and achievable New Year’s Resolutions. Who knew that 10 simple words could have such depth?

How would you summarize your 2010 experience in 10 words or less?

What If Your Best

This morning my husband shared this song with me. It's called "What If Your Best" and it's by a Christian group called FFH. It really spoke to me. I encourage you to watch the video and see what God says to you, and then take the time to read a little about what God said to me.

Chorus:
I want your best but what if your best is brokenness
Would I be broken?
I want your best but what if less than what I ask
And what I'm hoping?
What if your best is here in the waiting, here in the going thru the motions?
I'll still be trusting all I am, and all have, and nothing less to Potter's hands

I honestly can't tell you how many times I have asked these questions lately. It seems like things aren't going my way and maybe God isn't even listening. Who knows? Oh yeah, God does! Sometimes it's all we can do to believe that God is the Master and He doesn't need our help. Thankfully He chooses to use us and He does care about us and does want His best for us. A lot of times it can be confusing and we might find ourselves thinking, "Really, God, this is your best?" We forget that we are living in the midst of the storm. When the storm passes and we can finally see the rainbow maybe then we will have a better point of view.

I know it's hard! I'm there right now. There are things in my life that I would really like to see happen. It scares me that some of the things I dream may not be in God's best plan for me. Only time will tell. Until then I need to trust and to follow and to obey because God will give me His best.

He promises us that in Jeremiah 29:11-13, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'"

God wants us to have His best for us for two reasons:
1. When He gives us His best it brings Him glory
2. When He gives us His best it gives us a hope and a future

There are a lot of "what ifs" in life but if we dwell on them we miss the joy of "what is".

Thank God for what He has planned for you--even if you don't know what that is. Know that it IS His best.

Big Picture People

Have you ever met that one person who cannot see past the next ten minutes of the day? Everything is dramatic and the world is always coming to an end. Oh wait! We all know teenagers! Sadly, many adults live this way too.


As Christians, God calls us to be big picture people. That doesn’t mean that we have everything planned out to the letter for the next twenty years of our lives (read the dangers of this in James 4), but it does mean thinking of more than the moment. I think you could make a valid case that all successful individuals practice big picture perspective.

When people with big picture perspective encounter choices, crisis, opportunities, and struggles they stop for a minute to think. Before making any decisions they think, “What consequences good or bad could come from how I handle this situation?” Teenagers are notorious for rushing headlong into situations without a moments thought.

For example, if Andrew wants to get a tattoo he should stop and ask himself a few questions. Will I still want this tattoo when I 30+? Is my chosen location for the tattoo appropriate for my future career choice? *Side Note: I know some churches and other ministry employers that will not hire if you have a tattoo at all let alone if you have one on your face!* But many people don’t stop to give these questions and others any consideration.

This lack of big picture perspective has corroded so many things in our lives. Our rash decisions from the past are haunting us now. We regret the people we’ve dated, the jobs we’ve taken, or the places we have lived. Yes, God uses these choices to help us to learn and to influence the person we have become, but just think of the pain and regret that could have been avoided with just a little bit of thought!

Take 5 minutes today and think about how the decisions you are making could be affecting your future. You might be surprised at what you discover!