Wide Awake

First off, I can't believe the pending move that's been talked about and planned for months is actually here. In less than a week I will make my home in California - crazy! The time has flown by and I can't believe I'm actually taking this risk to get out of my comfort zone and move into new horizons. There's this great phrase that I heard recently that goes something like this: "Don't be afraid to leave something good in order to find something great." Here's to the something great that awaits me in the unknown - here's to a new chapter, a new adventure. Here's to the future - may it be directed by the One and Only in every step of every day.

Now, onto the latest book to grace my reading collection. It's by a pastor in the Southern California area of this church called Mosaic. Erwin McManus wrote "Wide Awake" to inpsire his audiences to start living our lives wide awake, ready for the callings on our lives. In the few chapters I've read thus far I find myself captivated by his use of words and how in the first few pages he's already pushed me to look beyond my world of comfort to listen and find the distinct calling God has placed on my life and to run after it as if my life depended on it (and it does!).

I'm reminded of a verse in Hebrews 12 that says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

How easy is it for us today to lose sight of the goal at hand, to forget what we're working for the second things seem to go off course? Why do we find it so much easier to give up than to push forward to finish the race we've been put in? Whether it's maintaining relationships, starting and building a business, working within the local Church and sticking with them through the thick and thin, or just waking up each morning and enjoying some time with the Lord before we start the day - we FAR to easily resort to our human nature of just getting by.

But, as McManus reminds us, "You can't just sit back and hope that the life you long for will simply come to you." What he's saying and what God is calling us to is that we need to fight the good fight towards the dreams God's placed on our lives, we need to hear the Voice of the Lord and run the race/path He's placed us on with perseverance - facing every obstacle along the way with grace. Bringing our struggles to Him for guidance and strength and allowing Him to refine us, even when it hurts.

So I wonder, what are you being called to? What are the things that are so uniquely you that you can't ignore them any longer? Who are you called to love? Where are you called to go? And what in the world is stopping you from doing so?

I can say with full clarity that I'm called to go to California. I'm called to get into community there. I'm called to write what the Lord lays on my heart, to share love, grace, and joy with those He places in my life. I'm called to speak. I'm called to listen. I'm called to be the best representation of a forgiving, loving, gentle, grace filled Savior that He can make me. I'm called to take risks, to push myself beyond my comfort zone. To speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. I'm called to speak to the next generation and all who are to come before my time on this earth is done.

And I'm terrified of all of it. It seems too big for me to do. It seems too outlandish, too overbearing to face. But the truth that we all need to realize is that it's not by our strength that we do what He's called us to. It's by His strength that we overhaul the impossible. It's through Him that things change, paths meet, and revolutions are born.

What do we have to fear? Nothing... for His peace overcomes fear. His love overcomes evil. He is bigger and stronger than any force of anxiety, fear, or lack of confidence. For we're not to be anxious about anything, but in everything, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, presenting our requests to God. And His peace which passes all understanding will rest and abide with us now and forever. How incredible!

Dear friend, I leave you with this.... what have you always wanted to do? What is it that God's specifically placed on your heart to do while you're here on this earth? And when are you going to stop living the mediocre to accomplish His best??

Let's start living our lives Wide Awake, instead of sleeping our way through...



"Is it possible that the most self indulgent thing you can do is to do less than you are capable of?" - E. McManus