| ENTRY 006 | You Weren’t Made To Settle
We can DREAM BIG, because we have a BIG GOD.
For so much of my life, I only saw the following as my options—make money, be stable, become successful.
They’re not bad goals—they’re just comfortable goals, that lean more towards striving instead of submission.
I knew that I always had a heart for people. I would tell myself that I wanted to have a career that felt as though I was helping others, just as much as I was helping myself through my work. I wanted to feel like I was apart of something “bigger than myself”, hence my decision to join the military. And also, in full transparency, when there isn’t a government shutdown or an international war going on, most things about military life are relatively secure. Pay checks consistently coming on the 1st and the 15th of the month, additional money for meals and housing on top of your salary…tax free! Not to mention, great educational opportunities, aaannd if you ever get fired from your job, you don’t really lose your job, unless you do something worth getting kicked out of the military for (if you know, you know). The military is great in many ways, not just those mentioned. So, it’s safe to say that for me, I felt really stable in that career when it came to financial and job security. But, there was a time where I felt like I forgot to dream.
When people would ask, “What’s your dream job?” I genuinely didn’t know how to answer the question, without resorting to the rigid 5-year career plan I made for myself, which truthfully, never really felt like me. I felt as though my dreams died the moment I decided to find employment based on security rather than passions. By the looks of the plan, I had my whole life figured out; that is, until God threw me a curveball in the direction I am pursuing now.
When I was younger however, I was what the world calls, indecisive, about what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would jump between fashion designer, veterinarian, farmer, interior designer, Disney actress, singer, doctor, astronaut…you name it and I probably wanted to be it at some point; and I never stayed hooked on an idea for too long. I was always frustrated by the fact that I couldn’t just be normal and pick one thing to settle on, like everyone else in school, who just knew who they were and what they wanted to be. I had this fear that picking one option, would lock me into a way of life that I might end up hating. But eventually, like most adults, I decided to put the blinders on to hopes and dreams and settled on safety nets and survival.
Although I tried to settle, God had completely different plans for my life and He never forgot about those lost hopes and dreams. My recent decision to trust God completely and leave the military without much of a plan, has really been an eye-opening experience. I am learning more everyday, that the possibilities are endless with God. Accomplishing with the Lord isn’t limited to one career field or one title to define yourself by, except maybe, servant to the Most High. Let me explain what I mean, because here’s where it gets fun!
I attend Inspire Church, which has grown into a relatively large church with multiple campuses. About a year ago, I decided to join the serve team at church and give my time back to the Lord’s house. What I didn’t realize, is that there is a whole world of operations to the church, that expands well beyond the sanctuary we sit in every Sunday.
When I joined the serve team, I got to explore other portions of the church that are typically reserved only for staff access. It was wild to me, seeing vast open concept office spaces, collaboration rooms, studio rooms, filming booths, prayer rooms, and kitchen areas, all within a church. I thought to myself, WOAH, they’re running a whole God-ordained business operation in here, how did I miss this!? I don’t know why I assumed that the whole of the church could be summed up by the sanctuary, kids area, mini cafe, and maybe a few pastoral offices. No—there is a full fledged operations center in there! I think this blew my mind because I realized for the first time, that in the same way the church isn’t limited in its functional operations, neither are God’s children.
The senior pastor of the main Inspire Church campus, Mike Kai, has a very entrepreneurial mindset. Maybe it’s just me, but I personally hadn’t seen that up close, within a church I was attending before. Every year, there are a plethora of events, products, conferences, merchandise, planners, books, and more that all get produced and put out by the church and each product always points back to the Lord. Many products by the church are free, but other creative ideas are produced and sold as a way to pour back into the church, the mission and ministry, and I can’t say for sure, but I assume to help support the livelihood of staff members.
I’ve seen many people disagree with “mega church” methods, how they operate, and how much money must be flowing through them, because “shouldn’t God be free?” But the reality is, access to God is free, thanks to the blood of Jesus. You can pray and communicate with God through Jesus at any time of the day and actually receive a response…if you’re patient enough! Churches offer free access to the word of God all the time, every single week, on multiple days of the week, through sermons and free Bibles! And yet, the same is also true that, the Christian Bible itself, “…is the best-selling book of all time.” It just makes sense. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 8:18, “…remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth…” So, if God gave us the ability to produce wealth, how much more important is it that we create products that point back to Him, which produce a wealth that can be stewarded for the advancement of His Kingdom? Don’t take my word for it though. Here are a couple more important points the Bible makes about creating:
Genesis 1:1 — “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:26 — Man was made in God’s own image.
If God is a creator, in fact, THE creator of all the world and universe, and we are made in His likeness, then we are also intended to be creators ourselves—by God’s power that works in us and through us. With such a gift to create, God gives us this power to earn and produce wealth through the work of our hands. Isn’t that so cool!?
Obviously, wealth generation isn’t just for our own gain. While yes, wealth supports our livelihood, it is also meant to be poured back into God’s Kingdom. I have to say, I am amazed and inspired by some of the Christian leaders of our generation, that are broadly displaying what it looks like to exercise God-given creativity; to produce ideas planted by God in the hearts and minds of His children, generate wealth from the products resulting from those ideas, and then steward that wealth to produce even more for God’s Kingdom. Many churches continue to advance the Kingdom of God by building more campuses to spread the Word of God, send people on international missions trips, organize community assistance drives, ensure free Bibles are available to the people that need it most, and ultimately act as the hands and feet of Jesus on this earth, fulfilling the calling of God on their lives.
The best part about this though, is that creating with God removes barriers and limitations. At my own personal church, not only is the lead pastor a pastor, but he has also become the author of multiple books, producing insightful life lessons from what God has taught him in his personal journey. Check out one of my favorite books by Pastor Mike Kai, “Blow your mind!”.
On the topic of removed limitations for Christians building with God, I recently watched a hilarious, heart warming movie, called “Relationship Goals” on Amazon Prime Video. This particular movie was so awesome to me because, it was based off of the book “Relationship Goals”, written by one of my favorite pastors that I watch on YouTube, Pastor Michael Todd, from Transformation Church in Tulsa Oklahoma. The book is a Christ-centered guide to building healthy relationships, inspired by Pastor Todd’s own experience with God, marriage, and stories of people he has mentored on relationships.
While a pastor becoming an author seems to be a typical theme that I’ve noticed, I’ve never once seen a pastor be all at once, a pastor, author and ACTOR!
SPOILER ALERT:
The movie, Relationship Goals, is a rom-com with a Christian spin, about two regular people, Leah and Jarrett, working in the news entertainment industry, who just-so-happen to know each other from another lifetime; they also happen to be competing for the same job. In a nut shell, Leah and Jarrett end up doing a cover story on the “Relationship Goals” book, which in turn helps them find their way to their own healthy relationship. While Pastor Michael Todd isn’t the main character of the movie, he and his wife Natalie Todd are featured in the film, recording the interview for the book. There is also an awesome scene where Pastor Todd is preaching at Transformation Church, in his natural element, but this time IN A MOVIE.
END SPOILER ALERT.
I thought to myself, WOW, only with God can you be a pastor, author, actor, and not to mention, a podcaster / music producer. Those last two parts weren’t captured in the movie, but are in fact other titles held by Pastor Michael Todd. It is all around awesome to witness someone boldly and proudly, display the creativity that God has blessed them with, in such a new and fresh way. Not only that, but it is amazing to see the fruit of it all, stewarded so well, that everyone around him, especially the congregation he leads, can benefit from his labor! Isn’t that the dream? Isn’t that the goal? To serve the Lord so hard, that you accidentally end up girl or guy-bossing so close to the sun, that the light of the Lord shines through your life bright for all to see and to also end up producing good fruit for those around you!? Now, don’t take that the wrong way—of course, the first goal is to simply be a faithful servant to the Lord, with everything else as an added bonus, but you know what I mean. It’s the epitome of Matthew 5:16, which says, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Aside from established preachers, I have also seen God make multifaceted creators out of some of my very own best friends. Take Angelica Johnston for example. First of all, Jaw Dropper!
Second of all, Angelica and I have been best friends since, idk, birth. No, really—her mom started babysitting me at 6-months old and that’s when our friendship formed.
For as long as I can remember, Angelica has loved all things faith and fashion! As a young girl, she was always drawing new creative ideas for clothes and dreaming about fashion ideas. She even went on to chase her dreams by attending a fashion institute in San Francisco, California! And then she followed the Lord’s leading all the way down to L.A., where she co-launched the Christian Streetwear brand, RIL (Revival In Los Angeles), and designed the dopest “Holy Spirit” hoodies I’ve ever seen!
Not long after this launch, the Lord blessed her to start her own clothing brand, Holy Girl. In true Angelica fashion, she trusted God and took off running with it, completely by faith! But even better than that, not only is Holy Girl, a Christian clothing brand, Angelica has also turned it into a blog spot for everything from fashion trends to conversations with Jesus. She also designs and sells faith inspired jewelry, journals, and other accessories!
Typically, in business branding, we hear people say things along the lines of: pick a cohesive brand and stick with a simplicity that is easy for customers to remember; less is more kind of thing. Normally, you wouldn’t see clothes, jewelry, notebooks, and blogs all found together in one brand, but when God calls you to create, you’ll find that the possibilities are endless with opportunities to produce. And the best part is, somehow He makes it all fit intricately and cohesively together! God is so amazing <3
Those were just a few examples of Christians that I have seen stepping out of the box, pursuing purpose with God through more avenues than one, and I find it so inspiring.
Side note—I have also picked up on multiple trends in strategy circulating our current generation, for building successful Kingdom businesses and more importantly, building wealth with God. For one, if you’ve ever heard the saying that “the average millionaire has seven streams of income,” well, it’s no coincidence that this concept is drawn from a Biblical principle. In Ecclesiastes 11:2, King Solomon, known as the wisest king of Israel thanks to answered prayers from God, wrote the words, “Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don’t know what disaster may happen on the earth.” This comes straight out of a passage talking specifically about investing our God-given resources; more specifically, investing in multiple avenues of wealth generation, as opposed to limiting ourselves to just one. There’s a lot more to be studied about the Kingdom business principles, so you’ll have to stay tuned for more on that!
As for me, after I was called away from the military, God originally spoke a Podcast into my life, called Working While Wounded, which was intended to serve as a healing ministry. The funny thing is, having a Podcast was an idea that I completely forgot I ever had. The dream was buried in a box of memorabilia, on an old vision board from two years ago, when adulting took priority in my life. Yet, God resurrected a part of that dream this year, and He kept the fact that I always wanted to help others, in mind! As I progressed in obedience by creating the Podcast, it expanded into an entire blog publication and YouTube presence as well, that has started shifting into what I now see growing into an entire digital community, that not only promotes faith and points back to Jesus, but also acts a source of encouragement for others to find true healing and rest in Him.
In regards to the blog expansion, I suppose, looking back (as humbly as I can say this), I have always done well in writing classes and have usually struggled with writing within character limits, because I had too much to say! So, although writing comes naturally to me, I never knew how to apply that skill creatively—I only ever used it to complete assignments. But God led me down this path of not only filming weekly Podcast entries, but also writing weekly blog entries as well. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll write a book and become a full-blown author.
Ultimately, the pattern I am seeing, is that all it takes is one idea and one seed planted by God to launch you into a completely new life and identity; but often times, it doesn’t stop there. There’s constant growth and expansion with God, because He wants to see you step into the fullness of who He has called you to be!
There is so much to be explored about the ways that we can carry out our purpose and calling for God, if only we would refuse to let ourselves be boxed in by earthly circumstances and if we would, especially, refuse trying to put God in a box, regarding the ways that we think He may ask us to carry out a promise, a purpose, or a calling in our lives. God might tell you to become a Christian actor, which might even be completely out of your comfort zone, because God likes to stretch us. Would you decline that calling, just because it may be uncomfortable for you and because maybe you start hearing some people mention that it seems like a form of exploitative Christianity? Or, would you obey your Father in heaven, who is Lord over your life, and film 5 seasons, portraying Jesus in The Chosen, like Jonathan Roumie, so that up and coming generations of this day can experience the story of Jesus in a new way? That’s not to say a Christian show replaces learning about Jesus through the traditional means of reading His Word, but traditional means coupled with fresh, creative means of encounters can only broaden one’s exposure to the Lord, which is the goal; to share the Gospel far and wide, turning every heart back to Jesus.
After all, God is the creator of the universe and the One who can literally create everything out of nothing, in whatever way He chooses to. That’s one of my favorite parts about following the Lord right now; I get a front row seat to watching just how limitless He is, and just how limitless I can be by the power of God working through me.
So, the questions I leave us with today, are for two groups of people, because I have been both.
For those of us that have settled in life, on careers that we aren’t happy with, simply out of survival:
If you were to walk away from the life you created for yourself, restricted by the responsibilities of adulthood and stability, and were also to ask God to allow you to have any job in this life, that would ultimately serve His purpose for you,
What job would it be?
For those of us who grew up with a million ideas on what we wanted to be, but could never settle on just one idea:
Can you consider that maybe God never intended for you to settle, but instead wanted you to believe Him for the BIG DREAMS you once had. Consider that maybe, just maybe, if you would allow Him to form you into the version of yourself that He designed you to be, you might actually end up becoming the person that can walk out those many different dreams and deep desires in your heart, but this time, not just out of selfish ambition, rather, all for His glory?
I believe God wants us to DREAM BIG with Him and dream limitlessly with Him. Just look around…the Kingdom of God has all types of creators from authors, fashion designers, pastors, preachers, and actors, to painters, architects, dancers, chefs, musicians and much much more! I imagine that a God as vast and as creative as ours, yearns to constantly expand, create, and open up seemingly impossible opportunities for His children to create as well, given that we are made in His image; as a reflection of His creativity.
So, let’s not live with doubt about what God can do for us and let’s not doubt just how expansively He can use us for His good works! Amen? Amen.
Sincerely,
Keliz W|W|W
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