Last night my husband and I attended a very special dinner honoring and thanking people we do life with.
You may love to dress up and go out to dinner with friends and strangers. I’m good with the friends but I don’t love a room full of people I don’t know. Learning to take the moment in is a personal challenge I am working on – anyone else with me on this one?
I find myself looking around at each person God uniquely made and seeing what brings them to life, what makes them tick, what ignites passion within their heart. A rally to all ambiverts out there – if you are like me you know what I mean by this. I really am introverted in a large crowd of people but put me with friends of family and I am extroverted when I am comfortable with my surroundings. I was pushing myself out there to be extrovert but every part of my introvert wanted to run home and hide out in my pj’s on the couch.
Our friends who invited us asked that we go around the room and share what we would like to see a year from now in our lives. What would we want to be different? What would we be doing or not doing? I am a thinker so things like this take some time to really come out.
As we went around the room slowly a couple of things happened that amazed me. The whole atmosphere of the room shifted and you could feel excitement and anticipation building. The best way I could describe it is that hope was literally being birthed in the room.
Our friends and new friends alike were pouring out their hearts and sharing what God had been doing in their lives. Some had dreams for their family, some for their churches, for salvation of lost souls, and some literally head a heart to change entire nations and I’m telling you the determination in the room was so tangible and unstoppable you could practically feel it! When you surround ourselves with dreamers and doers in the kingdom it is contagious.
Now there is a common denominator that has brought us all together – a business we all have partnered in – as I looked around the room realizing God had a secret mission I couldn’t help but smile. We are all a part of the same skincare company – the #1 Skincare brand in North America, selling an amazing line of products BUT not one person in that room said that selling skincare was their main focus.
Again and again I heard how they are using the wealth of the world to bring about Kingdom purposes. Everyone in that room loved Jesus and knew they were on a mission from Him. Some of the top earners in the company were sitting at the tables next to us and very candidly and openly shared how they have leveraged success in their business to bring real change to forgotten parts of the world.
By using the money they have earned; charities have been birthed, countries such as Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone are being impacted. Over 7 or 8 children have been adopted and their lives radically changed. Books have been written and musicals that preach the gospel and bring people to Christ. Mentorship is happening in communities where youth, who are desperate for a Godly role model, are being shown they are valued and worth something in this life. I could go on and on.
Many of them never publicly share what they are doing because their reward is in heaven not in front of all men, but I believe they are pleasing the heart of their Father with their obedience to be world changers with their wealth.
All these things are happening because these people took a risk to say yes to something bigger than themselves, to step out of their comfort zone, to sell credible and effective product that deliver amazing results! All I heard was how grateful they were for a stream of income that allowed them to impact the Kingdom of God in a way that was beyond their wildest dreams, in a way that made a huge impact.
It’s like there was a room full of secret heavenly agents using the wealth of the world to literally bring heaven to earth. My heart was about to explode at this revelation. I started to realize I don’t have to be afraid of success or doing well because I have some big dreams in my heart that God wants to make reality. There are peoples destiny hanging in the balance of my obedience to follow Him as He directs me regardless of what people say or thinking. This whole night brought me to remember a passage in scripture
Deuteronomy 8 Remember the Lord “You must obey all the commands that I give you today, because then you will live and grow to become a great nation. You will get the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 2 And you must remember the entire trip that the Lord your God has led you through these 40 years in the desert. He was testing you. He wanted to make you humble. He wanted to know what is in your heart. He wanted to know if you would obey his commands. 3 He humbled you and let you be hungry. Then he fed you with manna—something you did not know about before. It was something your ancestors had never seen. Why did the Lord do this? Because he wanted you to know that it is not just bread that keeps people alive. People’s lives depend on what the Lord says. 4 These past 40 years, your clothes did not wear out, and your feet did not swell. 5 You must remember that the Lord your God teaches and corrects you as a father teaches and corrects his son. 6 “You must obey the commands of the Lord your God. Follow him and respect him. 7 The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with rivers and pools of water. Water flows out of the ground in the valleys and hills. 8 It is a land with wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. It is a land with olive oil and honey. 9 There you will have plenty of food and everything you need. It is a land where the rocks are iron. You can dig copper out of the hills. 10 You will have all you want to eat. Then you will praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
Don’t Forget What the Lord Did 11 “Be careful. Don’t forget the Lord your God! Be careful to obey the commands, laws, and rules that I give you today. 12 Then you will have plenty to eat, and you will build good houses and live in them. 13 Your cattle, sheep, and goats will grow large. You will get plenty of gold and silver. You will have plenty of everything. 14 When that happens, you must be careful not to become proud. You must not forget the Lord your God. You were slaves in Egypt, but he made you free and brought you out of that land. 15 He led you through that great and terrible desert where there were poisonous snakes and scorpions. The ground was dry, and there was no water anywhere. But he gave you water out of a solid rock. 16 In the desert he fed you manna—something your ancestors had never seen. He tested you to make you humble so that everything would go well for you in the end. 17 Don’t ever say to yourself, ‘I got all this wealth by my own power and ability.’ 18 Remember the Lord your God is the one who gives you power to do these things. He does this because he wants to keep the agreement that he made with your ancestors, as he is doing today! 19 “Don’t ever forget the Lord your God. Don’t ever follow other gods or worship and serve them. If you do that, I warn you today: You will surely be destroyed! 20 The Lord is destroying other nations for you. But if you stop listening to the Lord your God, you will be destroyed just like them!
Do you get this? He uses us to bring about His purposes and plan. We can’t be afraid of success or money – again NOT for our gain but for HIS! I think some have done a disservice to the Lord at times by always putting money and wealth in the category of evil. The word doesn’t say money is evil – it says the love of money….but money is needed to bring change and God uses it to bring glory to His name.
What dreams are in your heart that are bigger than yourself? What are you doing to follow what God is speaking to you?
This is not a sales pitch but it is a challenge to step out of your comfort zone! God spoke to Jamie and I early on in our marriage that we would need multiple streams of income to accomplish all that He desired for us to do. We could care less about a nice house, fancy car etc but God has blessed us along the way, even to the point we have been given 3 cars in our lives as gifts from people who were being obedient with the wealth they possessed. When you are obedient to step out He will meet you there.
Is it always easy? Uhhh absolutely not. Do you have to work hard for it? Some times way more than you really want to! The reward of seeking first His Kingdom and all His righteousness is the best thing in the world! We are meant to be funnels for His purposes, His love and His wealth!
I love the benefit of great looking skin – especially as I look younger than I really am, but the bigger benefit to being in Rodan+Fields is the time & financial ability to have a real impact on the needs of those around us, while doing the things God has called me to.
Don’t be afraid to live BIG for God! His son came as an example of living a life much bigger than himself.
God instructs us to leave a legacy for those coming after us. I want to do that in spiritual, natural, financial and practical ways. The generations behind us are struggling with destiny and purpose and I believe we have opportunity to bring change in a real way by achieving the big dreams in our hearts and showing others it can be done!
Scriptures to Study: Deuteronomy 8, Proverbs 8:12-21, Psalm 62:9-11, Revelation 5:11