Live.

As I write to you today I am sitting in a condo staring at the humongous waves wash up on a Florida beach.  My mother is passionately snapping pictures while my brother and his friend run, jump and smash their bellies against the bellowing waves.  I sit here and I think.  I think a lot about life and how mine has changed over the past year.  I think of how people's perspectives of you change when your life changes.  How can that be?  If the person doesn't change then how can your perspective of them change?  I guess that is just one of our plentiful falls as worldly beings.  We all judge and fall short.

I feel that it is very important for me to say this as a leader:

Never do something because I do it.  Never do something because your sister, your mother, your brother, your friends, or your family did it.

But ALWAYS find out for yourself what your opinion is.  Seek God's opinion for this action on your life and then and only then do you do it.

Do something because you, personally, feel that it is the right choice for you.

What is it that gives you breath?  What makes your heartbeat quicken.  Where do you want to be?  What do you want to be doing?

I'm not asking you to give the "Sunday school answer", nor the "parental" or friend-amental" answer. I'm asking YOU.  From the depths of your heart, deep, deep down in your God-made soul.  What is that desire that he planted in you to increase his holiness and your well-being as a full creature?

You know, the Lord wants us to live an abundant and full life.  (John 10:10)  If we are living for other people, we are not letting him fulfill his promise for us.  If we are living too safely, constantly clenching to our security blankets instead of taking the risks set in our hearts, then again, we are not letting God fulfill his purpose for our lives.  Ephesians 2:10 explains that the Lord has big, bold and beautiful plans for us.  Plans of us soaring across the sky and sailing into an ocean of unknown wonderland.  How will we reach our destiny if we never give ourselves a chance too?

Believing in God and believing in ourselves go hand in hand.  If God believed in you enough to make the plans, then you owe it to him to believe in yourself enough to jump into those plans.

We all have passions, desires, heart-yearnings.  Mine is painting, speaking, and writing. (mostly...I tend to have more than most people.)  But  whatever your SOMETHING is...DO IT!!  

Chances are, if you're passionate about it, you were born to do it.

Stop thinking about what the world wants, what your parents want, and what your friends are doing.  Then breathe, pray and find God's design.

I have faith in you.  Go after your dreams. :)

Do what you would do if no one was watching.