Reality is the pathway to Dreams-come-true...

God always has eternal purposes in mind. He doesn't just meet one immediate need, neglecting the greater needs and purpose at hand (making us like Jesus). He does provide for us, and He does answer our prayers, but He knows even more than what we ask. He remembers that He is in the business of saving us COMPLETELY. He is transforming us. He is renewing us. He is preparing us.

Here is my carnal mindset: I know what I really want my life to look like, and where I am now is just a filler until I can get to what I really want.

My dreams: I want to raise godly children who love Jesus and live for Him. I want to be the kind of woman who can call others to follow me as I follow Christ. I want to love my husband in such a way that He is enabled and compelled to pursue all that God has for him. I want to be a blessing in the lives that intersect with mine.

Where am I now: I am working 40 hours a week in Marketing... a field that I don't really feel is my niche, but somehow I have been in for about 10 years. I don't wake up with that feeling of drivenness and motivation, knowing that when I go to work, I am accomplishing what only I can. I tend to think, this is just where I am until Mike's career takes off and we can start a family and I don't have to be the "career-woman" anymore. But what's wrong with that perspective?

1. God says: "Whatever you do, work at with all of your heart, as unto Him." You mean I need to not only just show up for work and do what is asked of me, but I need to go above and beyond and put my heart into this, even if naturally, my heart's not in it??
2. God provided this job for me and wants to use it to shape me into who He wants me to be. It's not just about gaining some professional-experience that I don't really care about anyway...but I am challenged and tested daily and it's how I live not just what I do that counts. He is developing my character daily.
3. My calling is not necessarily the same as my dreams. God may have something for me that I would have never picked myself. I do know that He has put me where I am for the current time. I don't feel that this is my "calling" but I do know that this is where He wants me right now. Why do I comply begrudgingly, like an ungrateful child rather than embrace what is before me?
4. I do not know the timing for the next season of my life. Part of my dreams include things that aren't in my life yet. I need to be faithful in a little so that He can entrust me with much. If God is waiting on me to be faithful in my job before He'll move me on, I need to hurry up and get with the program!
5. How can I possibly be the person I want to be, in the life that I so strongly desire, if I'm not being that person right now? If my children were watching me right now, and learning how to live, would I be setting a good example? Would I want them to follow in my footsteps? Wow. That's convicting.

God is good. He is so much more committed to my good than I am. It's humbling to recognize what great lengths He is willing to go to in order to make me what He created me to be. If only I weren't so often blinded by wanting the results without the process. If only I would live daily with all of my heart, unto Him, rather than unto myself. Father, I surrender in your mercy and grace and I give you this moment on. Thanks for being patient with me.