If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get out of the Boat

One of the most influential nonfiction books, for me personally, has been If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg. I read it during a time when I was yearning to find my purpose—my calling. I’d made some crazy mistakes along the way because of impulsive decisions, and I was seeking direction to avoid more.

The truth for many of us—we hold back from using our gifts or following our dreams because of fear. We’re afraid of failing and looking foolish, and we’re afraid of the added expectations success might bring. So, we don’t take risks, even when we feel a nudge to make changes in our jobs, ministries, relationships, etc. We lack trust in God having our backs and making a way.

From the book’s inside cover:

Peter may have been the first one out of the boat, but Jesus’ invitation to walk on water is for you as well. But walk on water? What does that mean?

~ Walking on water means facing your fears and choosing not to let fear have the last word.

~ Walking on water means discovering and embracing the unique calling of God on your life.

~ Walking on water means experiencing the power of God in your life to do something you would not be capable of doing on your own.

Taken from one of the chapters:

“If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat.”

“You boat is whatever keeps you so comfortable that you don’t want to give it up even if its keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves.”

“Want to know what your boat is? Your fear will tell you.”

Chapters cover things like how to discern our gifts and what God has called us to do, dealing with fear, trusting God, the importance of using our gifts, and what we can do while waiting for answers. The author also includes challenging questions in each chapter that help us process our personal journeys.

If you’re struggling with discovering your purpose or following through on what you believe God is leading you to do, I encourage you to pick up this book.

If you’ve read If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat, please share your thoughts. 

If you haven’t, in what area of your life do you think it might be helpful right now?

What others books do you think readers might find helpful if they’re struggling with discovering their calling?

Dawn

Meme – Inspirational Quote on Making Changes

I hope you enjoy this week’s meme. You’re welcome to share it with friends and on your social media sites: Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest.

To save it to your computer, right click your mouse (if you’re using one) and “save as.”

Disappointments or Blessings?

Have you ever had a huge disappointment turn into a blessing? I’ve experienced it many times!

When my girls were much younger, there came a time when we knew a bigger home was needed. Thus began the search. If you’ve ever gone house hunting, you know it can be fun and exciting—it can also be exhausting and discouraging. 

Finally, we found what I thought would be perfect. Even though the house itself wasn’t that much larger than what we were living in, I got caught up in the fact that it had a lovely backyard and a swimming pool. We put a bid on the house, but didn’t get it. I was devastated. Soon after, we found another home that had far more space and a huge backyard in a beautiful neighborhood. Although the retired couple had many offers, they decided our family was the right fit, and they accepted our bid.

Jump ahead a number of years. There was a time when I was pursuing a certain literary agent to represent me. She was well-liked by her clients and well-known in the industry. We hit it off. I thought she was a perfect fit for me, and I had my heart set on working with her. But things didn’t end up the way I’d envisioned, and I was soooo disappointed. How could things have spiraled after all the time and effort I’d put in?

One of my daughters had yearned for something to come to fruition for some time, but she kept hitting roadblocks. In the midst of one disappointment after another, many tears were shed. She fought to make something work, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Both of us have been able to look back and go whew! We experienced some heartbreak, but now we rejoice because we can see that God was protecting us! Had our prayers been answered the way we wanted, we would have been in situations that could have brought long-term frustration and disappointment. Instead, God—in his timing—has revealed something better for us. It certainly wasn’t what we had initially envisioned, but he knew what we needed to have not only success, but peace.

It hurts to want something so badly—like a dream—and do everything in our power to make it happen, and then think it may be destroyed right in front of us.

But what if the dream itself isn’t destroyed, but only the way we thought it would come to pass? What if God has something even better than what we could have imagined?

I came across this quote on Pinterest by Mandy Hale the other day: “Faith is moving forward even when things don’t make sense, trusting that in hindsight...everything will become clear.” 

The Bible says something similar: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1 NIV).

In pursuit of your own dreams, when you experience disappointment, will you trust that God has your back? Remember  . . .  disappointments can turn into blessings!

Have there been times in your own life when you’ve been discouraged and then later realized what you experienced was for the best?

Dawn

Meme – Inspirational Quote on Adjusting Our Sails

I hope you enjoy this week’s meme. You’re welcome to share it with friends and on your social media sites: Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest.

To save it to your computer, right click your mouse (if you’re using one) and “save as.”

When Roadblocks Stand in the Way of Fulfilling Your Dreams

Sometimes we fail to reach our goals because no matter how hard we try, roadblocks keep standing in our way. We may wonder why God isn’t clearing the trail for us to reach our destination.  After all, we’ve prayed. We’ve worked hard. We believe that God placed those desires in us—he gave us the gifts that seemed to lead us down a certain path. Why aren’t things working out the way we want them to? It’s not only frustrating, it hurts.

But a roadblock isn’t an excuse for giving up on the journey.

My husband, Sonny, is a linear thinker—that’s just how he’s made. His normal thought process is that to go from Point A to Point D, you must first go through B and C, in that order. But he’s learning that you can still reach D by taking a route that curves around, goes under, or goes above. There may be several ways to reach the same place. But if we get fixated on only one, we may find ourselves stuck in front of a roadblock or possibly turning around, feeling defeated.

I belong to the Northwest Christian Writers Association. An opportunity is given at each meeting for writers to share news about their projects. Some talk about books or articles being accepted for publication. We celebrate with them. But others talk about the rejections they’ve received—only we don’t call them rejections, we use the term “redirections.”  We celebrate those too! Why? Because they were brave enough to submit their work to a publisher, and through rejections, they can possibly learn what to do better next time. They may also decide to try something different in pursuit of their publishing goals.

There’s another type of roadblock, one that’s familiar to most of us. It may be different where you live, but every summer, we have to live with a lot of road construction. It seems no matter which direction we take, we’re forced to pay attention to signs telling us to stop, drive slowly, or take a detour. It’s easy to grow weary of the hassle. So, I try to focus on the end result of nicer roads, which will help make travel—and my life—more pleasant.

Like dealing with road construction, the journey to fulfill our dreams may be bumpy, and it may take us a long time to get there, but we need to avoid giving up. If roadblocks stand in our way, let’s either find a way to move them—or redirect and be willing to take a detour.

The destination will be worth it!

What kind of roadblocks are standing in your way of fulfilling your dreams? If you were to redirect and take a different approach, what steps would you need to take?

Dawn