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“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.
And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
By faith he dwelled in the land of Promise…”
(Hebrews 11:8) 

As Christians, we find ourselves in what I like to call “the pattern of faith” over and over again. It looks a little something like this.

A. God gives us a revelation, reveals something new to our hearts, a new dream, new idea, etc. 

B. We get SUPER excited!.

C. The reality of life kicks in

D. Fear and doubt whisper, "Did God really say? Am I crazy? Surely I can't do that. I can't go there. I can't be that...can I?" 

The Word which God has spoken to our hearts always gets tested.

And THIS is where our faith muscles grow!

This is where we have to learn from Papa Abraham, and say, “Nope, I'm not going to listen to the lies. I’m going to step out in faith...even when I have no idea what I’m doing.”

When I look back on the past few chapters of life, I am utterly amazed by where God has led me. I'm blown away by the sheer beauty of all the all the things that have happened every time I step out in faith.

I'm sure you've heard me say this before, but I think it’s worth saying again. NOTHING in my life right now; all of my friendships, opportunities, ministry experiences, etc...would not have happened had I not chosen faith over fear.

If I wouldn’t have started Crown of Beauty...sent those Tweets, reached out and emailed people I was so nervous about, asked hard questions, pursued self-publishing, pushed to grow this platform, etc. I can give you a HUGE list of things that never would’ve happened, had I not stepped out. 

Sister, if you’ve been praying for confirmation to move forward on something God has placed in your heart, I have good news!

The moment has arrived. This is your confirmation! This is your sign! It's time to step out!

You have a dream that you’ve been carrying in your heart, something stirring deep within, and I get it...you want to be 100% sure that it’s the right thing. Because if you’re anything like me, and a bit of a perfectionist, you want to see the big picture, the plan from A to Z, before taking the first big step, am I right? 

Faith requires boldness. We have to believe that what God has placed inside of us is of Him, powerful and worth pursing. 

So many of us carry Dream Seeds within. Books, story ideas, blogs, movie scripts...things that we'd love to do, yet we continue to procrastinate, and procrastinate, because we want to be 100% sure that this is of God, and that we're not crazy!

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all about waiting on God. I know He calls us to do that in seasons of our lives. We don’t want to push forward if He is telling us to rest.

But sometimes, when we know in our spirits that we're meant to do so something, we're not waiting on God anymore. He's waiting on us. Sometimes, we just have to pull the trigger.

God isn’t always going to move for us, when He's asked us to do something. He can lead us to the door, but we have to put our hand on the handle and open it.

Sometimes you have to open your mouth and introduce yourself. Send the email. Ask someone for something. Make your request. Publish the blog before you have any followers. Write the book before you have any readers. Make declarations of faith, and partner them with actions of faith. Step off the cliff, and EXPECT the stairway to appear!       

Sometimes God gives us blueprints or a very clear Game Plan for what we’re supposed to do next. Sometimes we can see 2 or 3 steps ahead and it makes us feel a bit more in control, right? We love to know the “plan” and think through all the details and possibilities before stepping out….but that isn’t always the way faith works. 

Abraham left his home, packed up his entire family, and stepped out in faith, when he didn’t even know where he was going! How crazy is that?!

Can you imagine? Would you do that? Pack up all your belongings and say, “Okay God, wherever you want, let’s go!” Ahh, that sounds pretty scary to me! But I think the reason it sounds so frightening to us, is because we're still grappling for control. Instead of living in total, carefree surrender, we still believe that somehow, someway, things will be better off if we remain in control. 

But control is such a mirage. The idea of being in control is extremely deceptive, because control isn't real. We feel like we're in control when we're securely sitting at home on our couch, driving our car, or choosing what to eat for dinner - but we're not responsible for the breath in our lungs, the gravity that keeps us grounded, or the way the planet spins faithfully, calmly, and orderly on it's axis. God is the only One who is truly in control, so wouldn’t our lives be so much easier if we just surrender and let Him have His way?

Trust me friends, I am preaching to the choir here, I need to hear this word just as much as the rest of us! There are days that I have serious trust issues. But I’m growing. I want to be like Abraham. I want to be a mighty woman of faith who can boldly step out and say, “Jesus, I will follow you, even if I don’t know where You are going.” 

In one of my songs, Happily Adventures, I wrote,
“I don’t have a compass,
I don’t have a map,
I don’t even have training, can you imagine that?
Dependent and desperate entirely on You,
But my hearts at total peace, ‘cause You know what to do.”

I wrote that song in a season where I was really struggling to trust.

I wanted so badly just to see the map. To know the steps, the process, just to know that everything was going to work out!  I wanted that extra proof of reassurance and confidence that if I stepped out,  everything would fall into place.

Instead, God posed the question in my heart:
“Why do you need a map, when you have Me?” 

Wow. Isn't His Holy Spirit amazing? And isn’t He supposed to be our great adventure guide?

I think one of the reasons God takes us through seasons where we can’t see what’s coming around the corner, is so we can grow in intimacy and relationship with Him.

If I had all the plans and knew everything that was coming up in the years ahead, I wouldn’t be as close to Jesus as I am. I would be depending on my own strength, rather than His, and I wouldn’t be walking in faith. 

One of my favorite verses in John chapter 3 says, 

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

Isn't that beautiful?

Something mysterious to keep in mind about the wind, is that it's prone to shift directions; suddenly and without warning. And the Holy Spirit does that sometimes too. We can be walking in one direction, feeling like we’re in His perfect will, then all of a sudden He mixes things up on us, and we feel like He’s telling us something totally different! When this happens, we don’t need to fear or be confused...we can trust Him, He promises to guide us into all truth.  

This is why it’s SO important to remember that we are not defined by what we do. For example, I’ll go through seasons of life where I cannot stop writing. Stories are flying off my fingertips faster than I can keep up! When I can feel God’s Spirit stirring and breathing on a story, I just go with it! Then a few days, weeks, or months later, all of a sudden, the wind will shift, and I won’t feel any inspiration to write. Instead, I’ll feel the grace to be writing songs, or work on marketing, or something way out in left field, and we have to remember that as God’s children, this is totally okay!

This is one of the reasons I don’t like writing bios. Whether it’s on Instagram or on my website, I don’t like using titles such as “author, singer, songwriter, YouTuber, etc.” (even though I do, for marketing purposes) I squirm a bit internally every time I see them. Why? Because I know those things change. I change. And when seasons shift, so do I. And we have to have peace with that truth, and remember that we are not defined by what we do. 

I once heard a really great quote that says, “When you’re dating someone, don’t ask, ‘What do you do’? Because twenty years from now, they will probably be doing something totally different. Instead, ask, ‘Who are you becoming’?” 

And I LOVE that, because sometimes when we’ve done something for a few years, and have basically built a reputation around it, it’s so easy to box ourselves in. People begin to see us in a certain light, and if we’re not careful, we can start to see ourselves that way too. The problem with labels and titles, is that if God begins to lead us in a new direction, we shake our heads say, “Oh no, that’s not me.”  

But what if Abraham did that? What if he said, “Oh no God, I’m not really all that adventurous. I’m not a traveler. I’m a homebody. Going to a strange, far off country? No thanks!”

That’s like you saying, “Oh no, God, I’m not a writer. I’m not a speaker. I can’t make videos. I can’t connect with people online.
I can’t put myself out there like that...that’s just not me.”

But who are you to say that you’re not something, when God says that you ARE? 

Don’t let your past, the opinions of others, your circumstances, what you do or don’t have, what you have or haven’t learned, or the way that you see yourself, STOP you from moving forward in faith! 

God had SO MUCH for Abraham when he moved. It says his inheritance was there, waiting for him to step out. 

And the Lord has an inheritance for you too. There is history to be made! There are lives to be changed and nations to be touched when YOU step out in faith. Your inheritance is uncovered when you step into destiny...when you step out...even when you don’t know where you’re going.  

My Podcast is another example of blindly stepping out in faith. I believe that years from now, I’ll look back and say, “Wow, God really did something with that. He connected this thing, and that thing, and wow, I was so close to listening to fear and not doing it at all!” 

So where is your inheritance? Where is the Promise Land that God has called you to? What is the thing that you feel stirring deep within, but you’ve been procrastinating...cowering back in fear and saying, “That’s not me. I can’t do that.” ?

Maybe there’s a book to write. A person to call. An email to send. An application to mail. A contest to enter. I don’t know what it is in your life, but YOU know, because the Spirit of God is stirring His children to action.

He’s got work for us to do, friends. All of creation is groaning for the sons of God to be revealed, and God wants to reveal HIs glory in and through you! 

Your dream seeds MATTER and now is the time to start acting upon them, and taking those bold baby-steps. You don’t have to see the big picture. You don’t need to know the plan. You just need to start. So pack your bags, toss your fears out the window, and take ONE step forward today. 

The inheritance of your destiny is waiting.

History needs you to move.  

Follow Him. He knows where He’s going.