Where Will Your YES Take You?

So, who is planning your next trip? When my family takes a trip I am usually the one making the plan. I research and suggest the place and often make the reservations. Before GPS I would study maps and make a preliminary route plan. And, oh yeah, I also do most of the packing. By the time we head out the door I am usually exhausted and ready to just ride for a while.

One year we planned a family trip that included some good friends who were like family. They had been so generous to us that we wanted to bless them. I had done all the planning for a beach trip to Delaware. None of us had ever been there before and I felt responsible for making sure that everyone had a good time. The first night, after we traveled six hours, we were all tired and hungry as we began the search for a place to eat. I felt so stressed! What if we couldn't find a good place? It would be all MY fault! 

I realized that the way I was feeling was not what God wanted for me. Even though I had planned the trip, the outcome was up to God, not me. After a while we found a cute little place off the beaten path. It wasn't crowded like every other place we had passed and the food turned out to be terrific! Not only that, there were Scriptures posted on the wall...of a local restaurant! But the sign I remember most read: "Fast food isn't good. Good food isn't fast."  This past summer Tom and I went back to the same town and found the same place. That sign was the one that let me know we'd found it.

That whole experience helped me to learn that even though I make the plan, God is the one who guides the trip. I ended up in a place i hadn't planned and was blessed. That has happened time after time in my life as I have taken a step back, released control and given God my YES.

So...where will YOUR yes take YOU?  

Key Thought: If you want to fulfill God's purpose for your life, then you need to let Him plan the journey.

A Scripture to consider:

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

A YES challenge: Where do you need to just say YES and let God take you where He wants you to go?

Prayer: Lord, forgive me for trying to get You to follow my plan instead of saying yes to yours.  I've tried so hard to make my plans happen that I have often left you out of the picture. I have let my fear and pride crowd you out. I've kept my world safe so that I could feel like I am in control. Today I choose You and Your plan over my own. Take me where You want me to go. I am all Yours. Amen.

YES is Your Ticket

So, you've decided to be all in with God. You've given Him the BIG YES. What now? How do you get started in your unique mission? What does that YES look like now?

Something in me has always loved the idea of traveling. I even worked briefly as a travel agent back in my younger days because I was so attracted to the idea of exploring new places. Whether you travel by train or plane or bus, if there is more than one stop on your journey you need a new boarding pass or ticket for every part of your journey. Every pass opens the way to a new destination along the way toward your final destination.

I have had the opportunity to travel from New York to Nairobi, Kenya but to get to Nairobi I had to go through Amsterdam. If I didn't have my boarding pass in Amsterdam, I would never have made it to Nairobi. If I had never made it to Nairobi, then an important part of fulfilling my unique mission would not have taken place.

So, what does that have to do with the BIG YES and being all in with God? Your final destination is God's unique will for you, His plan and purpose for your life. In order to reach your final destination you are going to have many connecting destinations along the way. Every new connection needs another YES. Being all in means being ready to give God the next YES.

Whatever the challenge is that you are facing today I can guarantee you that hidden in that challenge is a YES that will be the ticket to the next destination on your journey. Every step toward your final destination, fulfilling your unique mission, will require another YES. Get your ticket ready!


Key thought: Fulfilling your unique mission happens YES by YES.

A Scripture to consider: "When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love." John 15:10 NLT

A YES challenge: Where is the YES in the challenge you are currently facing?

Prayer: Dear Lord, I really want to be all in with You. It would be so much easier if I could just say YES once and be on my way. I sometimes find the challenges I face overwhelming. I really do want to obey You today and everyday. Help me to continue to give you my YES so that I can stay on the right track toward fulfilling my unique mission from You. Amen.

The Big YES

What would you do if someone tapped you on the shoulder and said, "Listen, you have been chosen for a mission that no one else has ever undertaken. If you choose to accept it, you will spend every ounce of your physical body, emotional energy and public reputation.  Your life will no longer be your own. However, you will have the opportunity to be part of a plan that will alter the course of world history. Are you in?" 

Essentially, that is what happened to Mary, the mother of Jesus, when the angel Gabriel showed up and told her that she had been chosen as the mother of God's Son, the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. Mary had options. She could have said "No! It's gong to cost too much! I like my life the way it is." But instead she chose to give God the BIG YES: “ 'I am the Lord’s servant,' Mary answered. 'May your word to me be fulfilled.' " Mary acknowledged that her life was no longer her own. She gave God her YES and as a result fulfilled her unique mission and became a participant in God's plan on the earth. 

You have the same opportunity. God is tapping you on the shoulder right now. He is saying to you, "Listen, you have been chosen for a mission that no one else has ever undertaken. If you choose to accept it, you will spend every ounce of your physical body, emotional energy and public reputation.  Your life will no longer be your own. However, you will have the opportunity to be part of a plan that will alter the course of world history. Are you in?" Like Mary, you have the option of saying "no." You have the option of maintaining the life you have now, but you will be missing out on your unique mission, the adventure your heart is longing for.

I have found that my YES has opened the door to opportunities I never dreamed of. At times, it has cost more than I expected, but I wouldn't go back for anything in the world!

You have the opportunity to give God the BIG YES today. The BIG YES is the YES that guides all the others. The BIG YES is when we say to God, "I am all in! My life is yours. Do what You want with it!" It's a risk. You won't really know what's going to happen next, but it's only when you decide to be all in that your adventure can truly begin.

So...what'll it be? Are you in?

Key thought:  Discovering your adventurous purpose starts with giving God the BIG YES.

A Scripture to consider:  Luke 1:38

“ 'I am the Lord’s servant,' Mary answered. 'May your word to me be fulfilled.' "

A YES challenge: Are you willing to be all in with God?

Prayer:

Lord, I know that there are areas where I have been holding back from You. I've tried to maintain a safe, comfortable life, but I know that You have more for me. Today I choose to give you the BIG YES. I give you all I am just as Mary did. I am all in. I am your servant. Fulfill Your purpose in me. Amen. 

Adventure Begins With One Word

                                      

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere! 

I want it more than I can tell.

And for once it might be grand

To have someone 

Understand

I want so much more than they've got planned."

In 1992 when I first heard Belle sing those words in Disney's Beauty and the Beast I was a young stay-at-home mom with two small children and no home of my own. Those words pierced my heart. Belle expressed exactly how I felt. I knew that I wanted more from life than I was experiencing. More than that. I knew that God had more for my life. But how was I to get there? How long would it take? What did I need to do?

I didn't realize at the time that I had already begun my journey of adventure. Just as Belle didn't realize that her next decision would take her on the adventure she longed for, I didn't realize that I had already turned in my ticket and the train had left the station. My adventure began with one word: YES.

Maybe you have that same longing for more, for adventure. Maybe you know in the deepest, truest part of you that God designed you for more. Maybe you are wondering how to get from where you are to where you and God want you to be. If that is you, then I want to encourage you, your ticket is in your hand. All you have to do is give it to God.

If you will give God your YES, even without knowing where that YES will take you, your adventure will begin.  We get where God wants us to be YES by YES.  Perhaps you gave God your YES a long time ago, but you are still yearning for more. It's time to give Him another YES! 

We are at the start of a new year. It's time for a new start. It's time to turn in another YES and take the next leg of your journey. If you will say YES to God, then He will take you places you never expected to go and enable you to do things you never expected to do so that you will fulfill your unique mission on the earth. Are you ready? 

Key thought: A life of adventure with God begins with one ticket: Your YES.

A scripture to consider: Philippians 3: 12-14 NIV

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." 

A YES challenge: What YES do you need to give God today?

Prayer:

Father God, my heart longs for more. I believe that You are the One who has ignited this yearning. Help me to cooperate with You, to give You my YES, so that I can continue this journey of adventure and fulfill the unique mission for which You have designed me. I am all yours! Amen.

* Disney's Beauty and the Beast - lyrics by Howard Ashman * Image - Pinterest - disneybound.tumblr.com