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There is purpose for your life; you are not here by accident. I believe there’s enough in God’s word to back this up, so for this solo episode I’m talking about the two perspectives I’ve been wrestling with related to this topic and how we decipher our God-shaped dreams. The first perspective is that He uses our gifts and talents for our good, for the good of others, and for His Kingdom. The second perspective is that He uses us in spite of our weakness, failure, or even our blatant rejection of His calling upon our lives. So, which is it, strengths or weaknesses? I’ll cover that in this quick 30-minute episode, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or over on FB/IG.
IF YOU HAVE EVER WONDERED ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE, THIS WAS THE EPISODE FOR YOU.
If you’re not sure yet what your God-shaped dream might be, you may find yourself feeling confused about how to determine what that dream is all about. Should your dream flow out of what you’re naturally good at or the skills and life experiences that have made you who you are today? Or might God be calling you to something completely outside of anything you’ve ever considered? Listen in, and let me know what you think.
This solo episode is tied directly to my last two solo episodes (#107- You are a Daughter of the King and #110 – You Have Great Value and Worth), in case you want to check those out before you hear this one.
I’ve got a homework assignment for you again. I suggest you to take the next 30 days to process through and write out your answers to the questions below if you’re still trying to figure out your God-shaped dream.
HOMEWORK:
1) Make a list of all the things you are good at (strengths) – Have you taken the Strengths Finder?
a. Then, make a list of your weaknesses.
2) Make a list of the life experiences that God has brought you through – a timeline of those things (especially places where God has comforted you in the midst of great anguish)
a. Look at turning points/big moments in your life (loss, struggle, failure)
b. Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
3) Make a list of what gets you excited, lights your fire AND what makes you angry or disappoints you
4) Ask trusted friends and family members, mentors, advisors, people who’ve worked with you to answer a few short questions about what they see in you – the things you’re naturally good at. We don’t always see some of this stuff.
5) Pray over these things; ask God to reveal what He’s calling you to.
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MENTIONED ON THE SHOW:
Listener Survey – share your opinions HERE: bit.ly/hellodreamer
Episode 107 – Solo Episode – You are a Daughter of the Most High King
Episode 113 – Solo Episode – You Have Great Value and Worth
Episode 106 – Holly Christine Hayes
The Table Church, Lafayette, Colorado
Strengths Finder by Tom Rath
Sign up for my monthly Dream Letter HERE: Bit.ly/dreamltr
Episode 32 – Amber Brannon, who’s coming back to the show in April
SCRIPTURE:
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
~ Psalm 139:13-18 (NIV)
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
~ Acts 17:26 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
~ Ephesians 1:3-6 (NIV)
Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
~ Exodus 4:10 (NIV)
The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.
~ Exodus 4:11-12 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NIV)
MAIN TAKEAWAYS:
2:47 – why I’m doing a listener survey (and would you please fill it out) 😊
4:13 – why I’m doing solo episodes and what came before this one
5:05 – how I’m wrestling with this topic of “God created you for a reason”
6:39 – what God’s word says about creating you
7:08 – God saw and knew you intimately before anyone else
7:52 – what I believe this means for the baby I lost in 2012
9:09 – He divinely appointed our lives
10:47 – God had a plan all along. None of it is an accident.
11:15 – He knows what you’re good at, where we fail, our needs, etc.
11:38 – what Jesus rescued me from at the age of 30
12:55 – not sure I would have believed, then, that God put me here for a reason
13:45 – He gave you gifts, talents, life experiences for a reason
14:15 – how I try to make this (my gifts and/or my pain) all about me
15:32 – what I didn’t know about this topic going into 2019 and what Exodus is teaching me
17:28 – Moses gets a calling from God and says, “send someone else.”
18:57 – God knew Moses would say this before Moses was even born
19:52 – just because He has gifted us a certain way, doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what our dream is about
20:11 – do we look at our gifts or our gaps when considering our dreams?
21:08 – if you’re still waiting on your God-shaped dream
21:35 – your homework following this episode
25:01 – review of what we covered in this episode
25:30 – my prayer over you, the listener
28:22 – how to get your hands on the next Dream Letter
29:25 – the theme for April: Your dream isn’t really for you
29:40 – the interviews I’m working on for April
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