I recently read a book, Completely His by Shannon Ethridge, that really challenged my perspective. We live in a culture that constantly challenges us to "dream big", "reach for the stars", "follow your dreams"... while all of this can be good, it can also cause us to lose sight of something really important. As Christians in this world, our life mission is actually to fulfill God's dream. What is His dream? That people would believe in Him and be saved. This is where our individual dreams come into play... the way that we actually fulfill God's dream will look different for each of us. These are the dreams that He places in our hearts. Over the past couple of weeks, I have really been challenging myself to think each day... "how can I make God's dream come true today?" Now that's a new thought.
God has put some really incredible opportunities right in front of me, and I'm just beginning to see the weight and influence of them. On a weekly basis, I interact with non-Christians through my photography business... I have a couple hours with them to just walk around and talk about life. God has recently challenged me to be very intentional with these conversations. Also, God has given me a window of opportunity to really focus on investing in the lives of high school students. I have made the decision to be full on in this, and it has affected every aspect of my life. I want to give more and keep on giving, whether it's my time, energy, finances... My high school life group had a pancake breakfast yesterday at Applebee's... praise the Lord that we were able to raise $1,000 for Speed The Light for missionaries. When you take people on such a journey with you, it definitely causes you to raise the bar in your own life. I'm not looking back. I'm running ahead. This is worth living for.
p.s. Dad's most recent insight to me... "as you enter your mid-20's, you may actually find yourself marrying a man rather than a boy." I would be okay with that. :)
