This morning I started reading “Sun Stand Still” again from Steven Furtick. I had started reading the book after the Leadership Summit, but had put it down a couple of months ago and had not read it since. The chapter I started with today was about a simple theology – God is Great, God is Good! Under God is Great, the book said “Dream God-worthy dreams. Pray faith fueled prayers. Live a life that can be explained only by the existence of a God who is infinitely great.” “If your problem is too big for you, it’s just the right size for God.Under God is Good, the book said, “Knowing God is great enables you to dream, pray and live beyond your means because you know He is able to repond. But knowing God is also good enables you to dream, pray, and live beyond your means because you know He wants to respond.”The chapter ended with this comment: “Build your confidence in his goodness and his greatness, and he will do the impossible. In our day, in your life. For his glory.”This chapter was so powerful in its timing – Eagle Brook Church’s Christmas message was on “Doing the Impossible” and being a willing a servant, the same story as I had blogged about in Mary’s Message.After reading this chapter it made me want to go back and read the chapter before to see where I had left off. That chapter was the “Surcharge of Sacrifice. It talked about the sacrifice of Joshua and the personal sacrifice you have to make to do something amazing, as he said “Trade off to Trade up”. In the book it said: “There’s always a trade-off. Before God can bring his promises to pass in your life, he has to strip away all the stuff that keeps you from trusting him wholeheartedly.” “Crossing over into God’s promise is always accompanied by a cutting-away process.” and it continued: “The things that God will call you to lay down or walk away from will depend a lot on where you’ve come from and where he’s taking you.”The book continued with the story of a corporate leader who was fired due to his decision to do what was right and not lie. He lost his job, but took this opportunity to take on a job leading a mission area that is sending a thousand people to help dig wells in a foreign land. Some of the comments that hit me:”But God stepped in and initiated a divine downsize.” “God often has to cut away our selfish goals to make room for the gospel in our lives.” “Now the question loomed: was he willing to follow Jesus into a place of costly obedience?” “Now he realizes that when God removes something from our lives, it’s not because he’s trying to take away something good. It’s because he’s trying to make room for something better.” “The same divine downsize that threatened to break him down laid the foundation for God to build him up to a greater height of peace and potential.” “Will we let God take away something we want now in order to make room for the thing we ultimately want?” “It’s a trade-off. It will definitely cost you something. But it’s always a trade-up. Why? Because God always gives back so much more that he takes away. When he takes something or someone out of our life, he’s just clearing space in your hard drive for an update.”These comments hit me right where I am today. I feel that leaving Target was a “Divine Downsizing” and God is preparing me for something amazing. Hebrews 12:11 – No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.The book then talked about the story of Joseph.”Before God positioned Joseph to save an entire nation, he cut away all of Joseph’s security and tested all his loyalties.” “Don’t let anybody but God himself put you in your place. And don’t stop forging ahead when you encounter opposition. The fact that you’re fighting big battles means that you’re close to even bigger blessings. The reason you’re facing fierce resistance now is that God is preparing an astonishing reward in your future.” “A high calling often exacts a high price. But it always yields an astronomical return.” “He’s aligning your desires with his desires so that he can accomplish the impossible in your life. And once you’ve made up your mind to pay the price and to trust the Lord with all your heart, no level of spiritual achievement is out of reach. Because when you want what God wants for the reasons he wants it, you’re unstoppable.”It ended with a pledge: “By God’s grace, no matter what it costs me, I’m going to live by audacious faith. I’m going to believe God for the impossible, to accomplish by and for him what I cannot accomplish on my own. No matter what people think about my Page 23 vision for my life, I’m going to take God at his word. I’m going to to trust him with my whole heart and follow him step by step, even when my surrender requires sacrifice. Even if it seems like he’s taken me over the edge, I will trust that he’ll be there to catch me if I fall. I will trust that he is good and that somehow, someday, he will work all things in my life together for my good and his glory.”This was the last chapter I read several months ago. Why did I stop after this pledge? Was it a God prompting to wait to read about the action steps until after I was ready to move on the pledge. I found myself crying as I thought how God worked these together. The Leadership summit and this book began the process of moving my mind to something else other than Target. In my journal on September 18th I wrote the following prayer: God give me the faith to do great things for you. Help me to know what you want me to do that I can only do because of you and with your help!Next thing I know, God begins the process of answering my prayer by removing my “Golden Handcuffs” at Target and the tradeoff process begins. Then after the past 3 weeks of beginning the “trade-up” process, God prompts me to pick up the book and it was the perfect chapter to begin to move my process forward.What is the impossible that God wants to do through me? I feel God leading me in a direction. I find myself thinking about some pretty impossible things that only He could do, but I would sure be excited to be part of. I am finding the people around me affirming this direction in my life by their suggestions and thoughts. Could I be at the beginning stage of being part of helping an organization do some impossible things that are truly God sized. Has God been preparing me the past 20 years for a role that can use the gifts he has given me to do something impossible? When I left Target, I received many notes and emails from people I had worked with over the past twenty years sharing with me the impact that I had made in their lives. The comments over and over affirmed that God has given me the ability to lead teams, develop people and connect value with the work that people do. It broke down into three simple words – engage, inspire and empower. I feel God leading me to use these three simple words to do the impossible.How exciting to see how God is weaving this all together!
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