if you stay with the first draft of your dream that you think is your dream then
the chances of you being disappointed are 100% if you allow for revisions to
what you thought God had called you to do or be or what you thought it would
look or feel like then it leaves you open to another iteration if maybe the
first time you saw it you didn't see it fully and a lot of things that have
moved me in my life were just meant to move me to another
place but actually when I got there I found out that God had something very
different in mind and to teach you like hey hold on to
your dream and don't let anything take it away or change it would be to teach
you not to be sensitive to God's Spirit because how are you supposed to know at
this age how old are you 22 right now yeah how are you to know at 22 where God will
have you when you're 39 or how will I know when I'm 39 where God will have me
when I'm 62 and so we have to be tenacious about keeping our faith but
open-handed about what manifestation that takes in each season and sometimes
I think we marry too quickly our first ideal or our first passion and
so we fall in love with an immature idea of our calling or our life and then God
is bringing stuff to us that's really beautiful but we reject it because it
doesn't look like our blueprint so the way to get through that is to focus on
character that's something that you can always have a certain amount of control
over is like what kind of person you're becoming
and I would say also never use one season as a stepping stone to another
appreciate it for what it is and that's a mistake because you will skim you will
skim the seasons because you'll think well this is my season
of preparation preparation for what you have one life you have one calling and the
greatest way God use uses you might be in a season that you think is
preparation so don't label a certain season like
well this is tending the sheep and one day I'm going to kill Goliath and then
I'm gonna be a king like David wasn't out there going if I keep the Sheep good
enough I'll get to be a king for him it was all part of one thing which was
called integrity and that means being a whole person and that's what makes you
happy so when that's your focus then external
things can discourage you but they can't destroy you they can get to you and
you'll be sad and you'll go ahead and see it going this way but it won't
devastate you and the times I've become devastated is when I help too tight to
my plan to be open to maybe my plan B was God's plan A all along that openness
will serve you so well when we started Elevation I was going to Nashville and
writing music for the church John Bishop and I went to in Shelby Christ Covenant
and at that church I was the worship leader and I taught a Sermon on the
Mount Bible study on Wednesday nights when I would prepare for that Bible
study it wasn't like how I prepare for sermons
now but I loved it just as much in a way I was proud of that and I wasn't doing
that season of my life in order to get to this I had a sense that I would do
something like this one day and it was a strong sense that I'll pastor a church I
honestly thought that I would be the age that I'm turning next year when I
started the church I had 40 in my mind that's that's what I had wanted to do
and I wanted to do a lot of music and and I wanted to travel and preach so I would
only have to have three sermons at any one given time and I could do them over
and over yeah and so I had that all worked out and I thought I could learn
from somebody else and not have to make the mistakes myself
so all that factored in and then as things moved along in the way that they
did I remember being in the airport flying out of Charlotte to go to
Nashville and I was like I guess this is my last songwriting trip because I'm
gonna start the church now and I need to give my full focus to the church and at
that time it's kind of similar to in a much smaller well a much smaller way how
Abraham thought he was sacrificing Isaac but there was a whole nation in Isaac
because like I said Sunday but I really didn't get to hit it that what you think
you're sacrificing God intends to multiply I did not do that justice this
Sunday just for time but I'm telling you like I thought I would be done with
worship music I didn't know you know Annie would be listening to O Come To
The Altar and that all that God had put in my heart would flow through me being
obedient I think if I would have kept trying to like I'm gonna be a songwriter
I wanted this and I wanted that and had it kind of followed where God had placed
me and served the church I was in and then when I was released into this that
maybe I wouldn't have been sitting here and hearing that from Annie today but how
did I know that God would let me have a part in a song that again was just on my
phone called my life be an altar for nine months and I couldn't figure out
how to write it and then on the day we were throwing it away I said what if we
just changed it to O Come To The Altar and then that song would reach you so
that's what I mean about like God connects dots we don't and we just have
to be like this right now I'm gonna do this right now I'm gonna do and that's
the hardest thing because we want to see the whole connection and know we're not
wasting time and I just wouldn't I wouldn't put it in a box if I were you
you know you could set an intention you can get on a path that's all important
at the same time do not fall in love with the first draft of your dream
because God may have like three dreams within one dream and it may be bigger
than you knew to ask for because think about that and I'll shut up
I'll go to another question but remember Ephesians 3:20
right who knows that verse you know people always shout over that verse now unto Him who
is able to do exceedingly abundantly I don't know why people shout them because above
all we asked or imagined that means God's not gonna do what you had in mind
so you're always gonna have to be in this place of trusting that He knows
better which means that He's gonna disappoint what you thought because He's
gonna do something different so people really should cry when you quote
Ephesians e:20 because it's exceeding abundantly or immeasurably more
depending on how you translate it than you ask or imagine so that means you're
gonna be asking God for one thing and He's gonna be like uh-huh door number two or no three
years from now or no I'm gonna use you to do it but you're not gonna lead it
you're gonna be someone behind it how Solomon got to build the temple not
David and some things that you want God to do through you He'll use you to
encourage somebody else and He'll do it through them and can you be cool with
that and can you find joy in it it's not easy but that's the only way to go or
you just be mean bitter and frustrated by the time you're an old 39 year old
pastor like me you know coming up in here time I thought the Lord was gonna
you'll be disappointed in people because you will think people
certain people are supposed to be there for you and your whole life and they'll
let you down on earth they'll be done with you or even betray you and you'll
have to be okay with that too you know then you'll have to do the whole Jesus
chose Judas too trick you know like somebody had to get him to the cross
right so even people that hurt us God uses in our life to crucify our flesh
I'm preaching better than y'all are shouting so so please take that to heart
for whatever it's worth Lindsey it's just that you will always be discouraged
about your dream as as long as you're married to your dream
rather than trying to following follow Christ step by step in each moment hey
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