Day 027: What to do When You Don’t Know What to Do
I had no idea what Live, Not Ordinary meant last year when I got in my car and drove across America. I just knew our country was a mess and there was way too much division, negativity, and hate going on in the world. I knew from personal experience how easy it is to complain and articulate the bad things. I also knew how difficult it is to communicate gratitude and articulate the good!
I’m not sure anyone loves America more than I do, and I felt God telling me to hop in my car and talk with people about what they love about our country. I knew God was telling me that in this crazy, upside down, messed up world, people have come to love fear. They love the importance and elevated sense of importance being afraid gives them. They love fearing death as if death were the be all and end all rather than just an eternal beginning.
I knew God was telling me the same thing He tells all who listen to Him. That is, we need to fear fear more than we fear risk taking, trust, and vulnerability. We need to fear deception more than we fear absolute Truth. We need to fear isolation cutting us off from one another and from the Lord who comes to us in the Sacraments, more than we fear a virus or government officials acting in love of their own power.
Don’t get me started down the rabbit hole of my thoughts on the 2020 debacle!
I was chosen, not to cause division with my true but sometimes hard to hear words, but to bring unity and a door open to goodness and possibility in the beauty of faith, of America, and in our place in God’s story. I can’t tell you how weird it felt to go up to total strangers, tell them a bit of my story, and then ask to let me video tape them so other strangers could hear their stories as well! I still shake my head about it, but I did it and met so many wonderful people and got so many beautiful testimonies!
I trusted God without knowing what I was doing or what the plan was. I came back with interesting information and ideas to maybe write a book someday, but no solid plans on where to go next. With a new job, I was also pressed for time making my posting and commitment fall prey to other things.
Still, God is faithful even when we are not.
I’d been back from my trip for almost eight months and was no closer to figuring out what I was being called to do than I’d been when I packed my car and headed for the first stop wherever that turned out to be. I may not have known clearly what I was supposed to do, but I knew myself well enough to know I figure things out by writing about them.
In my love and respect for our law enforcement and military, I’d sought training in mindset, resilience, optimism and growth through elite US Special Operations because they are the best at these things. Green Berets Jason Van Camp, Jeff Adams, and others taught me a lot about risk taking. Thanks to them, I knew that I should prepare as much as I could ahead of time, but eventually I’d have to stop planning and just launch. I also knew that, in business, if I was not embarrassed by my first launch, I’d probably waited to long for go time!
And so I set out writing to figure out what God wanted in this Live, Not Ordinary endeavor.
Some of it’s a bit off topic. Some may make a reader wonder where I’m going with this. I understand that. Sometimes I wonder too! It’s part of life’s wonderful journey, that not knowing all the answers, the call to imperfect progress, that stepping out in faith!
God does not usually give us clearly laid out pathways. He often lets us discover what works and what does not on our own. He gives us what we need to know when we need to know it. He lets us stress and imagine and play with ideas on our own. This way we get to see what works and what does not for ourselves.
But sometimes when you’re in the shower and you’re asking God for help finding out your mission and what in the world He wants you to do with what He’s allowed in your mind, soul, heart, and strength, He speaks clearly. Sometimes it all just clicks and you wonder why you did not see it before!
Today, I heard God clearly give me my tagline, “I help American Christians unite body, mind, heart, and strength so they can love the past, live faithfully in the present, and find hope for the future without cancelling themselves, their families, or their beliefs.”
The last part I added on and will have to think about, but the love our past, live faithfully in the present, and find hope for the future I believe is a little gift from the Almighty Himself. It gives me another piece of the puzzle. I’ll work with that and be grateful, joyful, and content moving ahead until I get another little gem explaining what I am supposed to be doing!
God does not just listen to our prayers. He takes an active interest in them. He gives us what we need, when we need it, no more , no less, no sooner, no later. Remember that next time you are praying for something! I’ll pray to remember it better too!
Ask, and you shall receive – eventually! 🙂
In the meantime, don’t let doubt paralyze you. Move ahead, love your past, live faithfully in your present, and love your future! Live to become a Saint, and a great one – Choose to Live Not Ordinary!
God Bless…
Gratitude Journal – May 7, 2023
Thank You Lord for…
- Printing the flyers out last night.
- Getting to Church to put the flyers out before Mass this morning
- Mass this morning and Father’s homily
- Having two of my boys come to Mass with me.
- L & J behind and in front of me.
- My new veil not falling off – I have to attach that clip!
- Chicken the boys liked
- Ice cream outside in the beautiful day
- The boys going to Guardians of the Galaxy and my having time to write
- A semi-weeded garden
- M coming back to the house today
- A call from L while floating!
- Messages and prayers from C in MO
- Funny names for my boys in my phone
- HVSM post and those who responded
- BED!!!
The Live Not Ordinary Challenge:
8 Weeks. Daily Challenges. Live Coaching. One Fierce & Growing Cadre!
Are you an American Christian who loves faith, family, and country but is concerned about how our world is going? If so, join the Live Not Ordinary Challenge and learn to love the past, have faith in the present, and find hope for the future through eight weeks of exercising your mind, soul, heart, and strength!