The Idea Girl

My friends have often dubbed me as, "The Idea Girl."

Growing up, my parents joked that if I could just get paid to give people ideas, I would have an endless stream of income.

And it’s true. My mind is like a 24/7 Idea Generator!

As a fiction writer and a songwriter, this can be a wonderful thing.

But it can also be a bit of a curse, considering I already have a dream list of 70 Bucket-List-Like-Achievements I'd like to accomplish in my lifetime, along with a side list of 35+ novel ideas!

Yeah, that alone is enough to keep a girl awake past midnight.

But add a spoonful of fresh ideas every couple days, and it doesn’t take long to feel like I’m swimming in a daily avalanche of ENDLESS IDEAS.

One of the biggest struggles in my life has been trying to figure out what to do with all of these ideas. I daily ask for the Lord's help in stewarding them. I long to know what comes from Heaven, what God wants me to take action on right now, and what I need to put on the back burner for later.

What does He want me to share? What does He want me to keep to myself? What should I be pouring consistent hard work into, and what should I just surrender and let go of?

I wish there was an easy answer for this daily battle. But so far...I haven’t found one.

As frustrating as it can be sometimes, my lack of solid answers truly is a beautiful thing, because it keeps me coming to the Lord! This constant, never-ending process of seeking Him on a daily basis, ensures that I'm exactly where He wants me to be.

It truly is a joy and an honor to come daily before Him and ask,
“Okay God, what am I supposed to do with my life TODAY? What idea do You want me to move on, and what do You want me to stop obsessing over, and just hand to You?”

Last year, I was discussing this abundant overflow of seemingly endless ideas with the Lord, and I was struck with a thought.

"I should write a book. A book loaded with IDEAS."

If you've been reading Crown of Beauty for any amount of time now, you're probably very familiar with my "idea obsession".

I just can't seem to get over the fact that IDEAS have the potential to change the world.

Isn't it amazing, how one word, one thought, one person can spark a movement, and create a shift in society?

As a Christian, I think it’s totally natural that I am arrested by these thoughts. After all, we were created to be world changers!

Sadly, I feel like the word “world changers”, gets thrown around a lot. It’s a beautiful, exciting, phrase that can really make you feel pumped up, and we use it a lot in the Church, but I personally believe that if we’re going to be using this phrase, we have to add some action steps to it.

We all hear this phrase so often, but have you ever asked anyone, “So, what’s your plan for changing the world?”

Like, let’s break this down and get super practical. How are we going to begin to change the world if we don’t understand HOW or WHAT actually changes the world?

Sure, we all know that Jesus is the answer, and He’s the only one who can actually change anything. But didn’t He pass the baton onto us? Didn’t He tell us to do something? So what does this whole “changing the world” thing ACTUALLY look like, in practical, day-to-day life?

If we truly understood what it means to be world changers and history makers, don’t you think we’d be affecting the world more than what we are at this current point in time?

We understand the idea of change in a very abstract, romanticized way, but I don’t think we grasp what is required for the Church to bring a cultural shift within our spheres. What did Jesus really mean when He told us to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations?

I’ve been wrestling with these questions for years. I’ve studied the Word, listened to speakers and preachers, and have even read a variety of marking books such as “The Tipping Point” by Malcom Gladwell, which dives into the practical dynamics of what it takes to make a cultural shift in society.

One of the burning questions on my heart has been, “How do we shift culture? How do we fulfill the great commission, and truly make disciples?”

I’ve prayed so many times, “Lord, in my desire to encourage others to follow their God-given dreams, how can I be sure that I’m not leading them astray, districting them with busy nonsense that has nothing to do with what You told us to do in the first place?!”

As I’ve continued to seek God for wisdom on this subject, to learn, dive in deeper and deeper, I realized I have so much more to share than what could ever fit in a simple article, or on a twenty-minute Podcast episode.

So, I wrote a book.

But here’s the thing about this book...it’s just the tip of the ice-burg. This book was my way of doing an idea dump, so to speak. It was as if I was unscrewing the lid off my brain, taking a peek at what was inside, and spilling everything out on the counter, so I could stretch it all out and examine one thing at a time. I know that this book will lead to many, many more books. This book will lead to Podcast episodes, YouTube videos, courses, conferences, and who knows what else! This book is just the beginning of everything I’m learning, and everything I long to know so much more about.

(Also, this book is the entire theme of Season 2 of my Podcast, 'Dream to Destiny', which makes the book so much more fun and interactive!)

As I’ve said before, ideas have the power to change the world. And I believe that you carry something this world desperately needs.

Throughout the course of Season 2, we will be exploring 22 different ideas as to how we can change the world and make history!

As we embark together on this journey, you’ll quickly see that each new topic is introducing a whole new world of adventures and unknowns!

Every single one of these 22 ideas will introduce us to new people, new places, new faces, new challenges and triumphs.

We will hear their stories, get crazy inspired, and I’m confident it will spark brand NEW ideas in your life as well!

Within this tiny little book, The Idea Revolution, we take a birds eye view at a massive variety of topics, covering everything from writing to Hollywood, marketing to life coaching, YouTube to world missions...and the list goes on.

Since The Idea Revolution book is more of a surface-level expression of what I truly hope to convey, I thought it would be amazing to offer the invitation to dive in deeper on a variety of topics.

I know that some of us will be SUPER excited to read and listen and learn more about what God is doing in the fashion industry...and others of us really won’t care. We’ll just want to read the section about how to get our blog up and running!

Each of these 22 Ideas are just as unique as the individuals we will be interviewing on Season 2!

Because I am a lover of variety, diversity, and all things multifarious, I want to give a fuller, larger expression of what God is doing on the earth, and how POWERFUL it is when His children step into the fullness of their destinies!

When we take an IDEA within one of these 22 categories (and just fyi, there are far more than 22 things people can do to change the world, this is by no means a be-all-end-all. There wouldn’t be enough books on the planet to record all that God is doing through His kids!) But when we take one of these ideas, and begin to learn more, challenge ourselves with these simple action steps, we begin to see a ripple effect.

We see that tiny ideas are no longer little acorns...those who have stewarded and rightly handled the gifts God has given them, have watched their acorns turn into big, healthy, lively oak trees of righteousness, and entire spheres of influences and areas of cultures are being changed because of that!

Isn’t that powerful!? Isn’t that what Jesus was talking about when He told us to make disciples?

The word disciple means, “learner”. So I hope that you’ll join me for these next 22 Episodes for an unforgettable journey, as we explore, listen, and learn from those who are walking in the fullness of one of these 22 ideas.

I believe that God speaks to us in so many different ways, and it is my prayer that He uses Season 2 of Dream to Destiny, to speak directly to your heart, breathe afresh on your dreams, draw you closer to Him, and bring you another step closer to the discover and fulfillment of your destiny.