daily devotional

When God created you, he had an image in mind. He had a life’s purpose and destiny envisioned for you, then he equipped you perfectly for it. Part of the equipping we often miss is the DESIRE for the life we were created for. That’s right, he not only makes you the right person to fulfill the image he had in mind, but he places the desires within you for that destiny.

If you study enneagrams, you find we are designed so uniquely different. I’m a 7, the enthusiast. (Surprise, as if you didn’t know). I am extroverted, optimistic and spontaneous. I am playful, high-spirited and practical. My desires are for new and exciting experiences. And this is exactly how God made me. Why? To fulfill my purpose. This is who I needed to be to be the voice that wakes people up and inspires them to live up to their God-given potential. My desires for adventure perfectly align with my destiny of hosting BIG Life Adventure Retreats.

Study your own unique self and you too will find every detail of you is in alignment with a greater plan that excites you.

Ya’ll, God is a genius! He created you on purpose with a purpose. Your personality type, your talents, your tendencies, and your desires work together to guide you exactly where God wants you to go.

How about we stop wishing we were someone else, and start rocking exactly who we were created to be?

How about we stop settling for a watered down, lesser than, cheap imitation version of who God says we are, and rise up and start believing we are his masterpiece handcrafted for a purpose?

How about we start trusting God knows exactly what he is doing and we partner with his plan?

How about we stop giving up when it gets hard and believe God has made a way for us to not only survive, but thrive.

Here’s the problem, when things get tough, we start looking around at what we want RIGHT NOW and we settle for that immediate gratification, sacrificing what we want MOST.

What do you want most? What are your deepest desires? Those desires are there as a guide to the life you were created for.

What do you want right now? Is it in conflict with what you want most? Typically it is.

You most want a strong healthy body. But dang a doughnut followed by a nap sounds pretty ahhh-mazing, doesn’t it?

You most want a fulfilling and successful career. But the leap required to get there is scary, so the security of what you have now is good enough for today.

Do you see how the offerings of ease, comfort and security are often in complete contradiction to your deepest desires? And do you see how ease, comfort and security are tools the enemy uses most on us? Honey, if he can’t defeat you, he will settle for detouring you. He would love to take you to Hell with him, but if he can’t have your soul, he will fight for your purpose. He will attack your destiny.

How does he fight? Not with the scary demons and fiery darts we imagine, no he fights with freaking nap times that turn into lazy, unlived days. He fights with doughnuts that derail your progress, defeat your willpower and leave you convinced something is wrong with you and you’ll never change. He battles with offerings of false security that make you think a guaranteed paycheck is better than the uncertainty of the future you dream of.

And this is what kills our potential. This is exactly what sucks the God given desires right out of our souls and has us settling for less in life when we were created for so much more. The easy way. The convenience of comfort. The security of what always has been. The dang habit of caving to our every little whim of what we want right now, forgetting it comes at the high price of what we want most.

You want out of this pattern? You want to change this habitual cycle of making a tiny bit of progress, getting stuck, giving up, feeling like crap. Then a tiny bit of progress again, followed by once again getting stuck, giving up and back to feeling like crap again.

Listen to me, YOU WERE NOT CREATED TO FEEL LIKE CRAP! Your life’s purpose is not to give up. Your destiny is not one of being stuck.

If you’re stuck, could it be because you have settled a few too many times for the offerings of what felt best right now? And what felt best in the moment was always easier than to keep fighting, pushing, struggling and moving forward.

But what would happen this time if you didn’t give up? What would happen if you showed up with your best effort, remembering you were divinely designed and perfectly equipped for your purpose? What if you had the confidence to know you’ve got exactly what it takes to rise above this challenge and overcome this obstacle? What if you remembered victory is yours and Christ has made the way for you to be victorious? Even when you don’t see the way, you can trust it’s there.

Do you know the story of the 2 frogs in milk?

One day, two frogs were enjoying the day in the barn when they accidentally fell into the farmer’s bucket of milk, and they couldn’t get out. The sides of the bucket were too slippery and the poor frogs were stuck.

They swam and swam, but made no progress. One of the two frogs said “brother, we have been swimming and getting nowhere. This is hopeless, we should just give up now.”

The other frog was not willing to give up. He said, “surely someone will come find us. Let’s keep swimming, something will work.”

After awhile, the first frog began complaining again, “I just can’t swim anymore. I’m tired and this is pointless. Can’t you see this isn’t working? Let’s just give up now and die.”

And so he did. He stopped swimming, he fell to the bottom of the bucket and he drown.

The second frog kept swimming. He never stopped doing everything he could, even when it appeared to make no difference. Eventually, the little frog felt something solid beneath his feet. He then realized all his paddling in the milk had churned it into butter. He stood on the solid butter and hopped right out of the bucket.

This is an image of Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Girl, don’t grow weary now. Don’t quit doing what you can do. Don’t allow the voice of discouragement to cause you to give up again. Imagine where you could be today if you wouldn’t have given up last time! YOU CAN DO THIS.

The desires for a future life you have are not just fantasy filled wishes. Your deepest desires were a deposit made by your creator. A guide to your destiny. How about you don’t give up on them this time? How about you choose what you want most over what you want right now.

You may want to stop swimming right now. You may be exhausted from this battle. You may just want to coast in a life that’s a little easier, a little more comfortable and secure … BUT THAT’S NOT THE LIFE FOR YOU.

You were created for MORE, and the truth is, you WANT MORE. You want more because you were never meant to settle for less.

If you do not give up today, you will be one day closer to fulfilling your purpose. If you do not cave today to what you want right now, you will be one step closer to getting what you want most.

Do not grow weary my sister, the harvest of the life you truly want is coming if you do not give up!