~ LIVE ~

What does it mean to truly LIVE...

 

Living fully takes courage and courage is the ability to do something that frightens you, to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.

 

I don't think it means you're never scared but it does mean you're willing to push through the scary parts of life and choose to live through them. It means you don't let fear control you or stop you.

 

To live fully is to risk...

 

~ being hurt

~ being a failure

~ feeling pain

~ being judged

~ being rejected

~ being discarded

~ having your heart exposed

~ being misunderstood

~ being laughed at

~ being wrong

~ being embarrassed

~ being uncomfortable

~ death

 

But if we were never to step out and risk living our dreams, ideas or what was being asked of us for any of the above reasons we'd have wasted a life that was given to us as a gift. To step out and do anything that pushes us out of the comfortable is to risk something and the closer to our heart the dream the greater the risk in fulfilling it.

 

I love this verse in Joshua 1, Joshua is about to cross the Jordan and take possession of the land promised to them by the LORD. It's a big deal crossing into this land, it's inhabited, there are giants in the land and their enemies need to be defeated. This is what the LORD says to Joshua in verse 9, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

 

The LORD was on his side...the God of the universe and there was no need to be terrified or discouraged. God knew that the potential for fear and discouragement were there and so he addressed it, telling Joshua He would be right there with him. God sees the big picture and He wants us to trust Him. And in Christ I have this same promise from God...He will be with me wherever I go. It's His desire that I live life fully...the life that He has given me and the plans that He has set before me.

 

As a mom it's such a joy to see my kids live life fully. To see them step into life, to embrace it and face some of the tougher things and work their way through it. And so if it brings me joy, I can only imagine the joy my Father in heaven feels when He sees His children walking in His ways no matter how difficult the path. Because all of our paths will be filled with straight stretches when it's smooth sailing, with sunrises warm upon our face, pot holes you could almost get lost in, bumps you could lose control over, wash outs you think you'll never recover from and then the straight stretch comes again...the sun rises again and you're alive and you're living fully...

 

"When God speaks, often times His voice will call for an act of courage on our part." ~ Charles Stanley

 

“Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks. Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she won’t suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when that person looks back – and at some point everyone looks back – she will hear her heart saying, “What have you done with the miracles that God planted in your days? What have you done with the talents God bestowed on you? You buried yourself in a cave because you were fearful of losing those talents. So this is your heritage; the certainty that you wasted your life.”

― Paulo Coelho

 

“Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to "go out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to "go out" through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.”

― Oswald Chambers

 

“Stop looking for the path of least resistance and start running down the path of greatest glory to God and good to others, because that's what Jesus, the Real Man, did.”

― Mark Driscoll

Done