What it Means to Dream with God
God has given us a multitude of threads for us to love, know, and serve Him. I was in my 20s when I first walked through how God made me, my gifts, and the impact of my upbringing. This gave me a lot of the framework upon which I built my book ‘Restless: Because You Were Made for More’.
We are a sum of many parts that make up a very unique individual.
And so, there's nobody else on earth like you. We are put on this earth by God for great purposes. He uniquely placed you and made you, and it’s crucial to keep searching for His purpose for your life.
We've been conditioned to think there is only one purpose for each person, and that's not true.
The reality is that there will be several different seasons and callings in your life. Different gifts, passions, and threads may show up each time. And so, we structured this ‘Made For This’ podcast season in a way that hopefully gives you a framework to make decisions.
The Story of Joseph
I built this project on the story of Joseph. He wasn’t liked by his brothers because he was their father’s favorite. And so, they sold him into slavery. When he was younger, Joseph thought there was something very important for him to do on Earth. He felt like God called him to this thing he unwisely shared with his brothers.
Several unfortunate events befell Joseph throughout his lifetime. It took decades for him to realize the dream God put in him as a child. I love that story because it shows so much about how God works in our lives. It shows how He uses the messy tangled threads of our lives for so much good. And all of it was on purpose even.
Had his brothers not sold him into slavery, Joseph would have probably never arrived at the right position for him to rescue his brothers. He probably never would have saved the people of Israel and Egypt.
Joseph’s story didn’t feel like it made sense, but it was all intentional.
And isn't that what we all hope for? When we’re untangling difficult threads in our lives, we want it all to untangle immediately. We want it to all make sense, and it eventually will make sense.
Joseph wasn't necessarily special as a human. God cares about you the same way He cared about Joseph. He has set you in your place the same way He did Joseph.
God has prepared good works for you to do, just as He did for Joseph. This is how God works and moves.
It's the story that He builds in all of our lives, and I think we miss it.
The power of noticing God’s greatness in your life
My prayer, as we continue on this journey to find our purpose, is that you would see what God has already begun to build into your life. I need you to lay out your threads. Start laying out the stories and parts of your life that might feel confusing.
Take this time to lay out the things that have hurt you or brought you joy, those you're good or bad at, and the people in your life that God has given you to love. Start laying out who you are and what God has given you to work with. This will enable you to see things that you've never seen before in your life.
When I did this for the first time, it felt like counseling. I had to dig up and face my past, looking at all the highs and lows. I had to look at the gifts God had given me, how I knew they were my gifts, and when I experienced that feeling for the first time.
Laying Down Your Threads
There are things that God has prepared for you. If you're not doing them, you’ll feel restless and unsatisfied because He built you to do them. Those things are not necessarily outside of the norms. Over the years, I've learned what I bring to friendships. I bring what I'm good at.
Knowing yourself frees you to help other people.
It was difficult laying out my threads because I had to go back to the hardest parts of my life. I had to see how God has used those parts to build compassion and empathy in my life. And it was excruciating. It genuinely felt like counseling.
There were these blinking lights in my life that I had never seen. They were crystal clear to everybody in the room. It was blinding! The things I cared about were so clear to me, with discipleship being one of them. I even got a mentor to disciple me when I was in college. Michelle Boast taught me to care about the Bible, share my faith, and be bold.
Michelle taught me that my gifts also could be my weaknesses, and that's what I've given my whole life to. As I was laying down my threads, I had to remember my college days, Michelle’s discipleship, and what I cared about. I had to remember the things that moved me. I had to remember learning to pray for other people and starting conversations with people about normal things, hoping they lead to spiritual things.
I reflected on the times I'd been my happiest and most fruitful. And it was so obvious. I knew I would give my life to making disciples because I was uniquely gifted to communicate, have small groups, and create resources for people. I did that for 15 years in my living room because I didn't know there was any other way.
Even when I went to seminary, I just went because I loved my living room and I wanted to make disciples. I knew I would do that for the rest of my life. I know what I am good at, and that’s ministering to a living room full of girls. I’ve discipled a handful of girls in their 20s in the last year, and it’s still my favorite thing I do.
Discipleship brings me immense joy, and the same could be true for you. There is something that makes your heart sing when you do it, and you need to find it. I need you to look inside yourself. Pull out the things you may be reluctant to pull out.
Imagine the things you're good at and ways you could use those things. This may feel uncomfortable but hang in there. You may wonder how you’re different from everyone else or how you could have something unique built into your life already. It may be difficult to see it, but God sees it. And if you lay down all your threads, you will see it too.
If you want to take everything we're talking about in these posts through ‘Restless: Because You Were Made for More’ to a practical level in your life, you can get a copy of the book right here. You can also download the free PDF book club kit here. There are prompts, conversation questions, and verses that go along with each Made for This episode.
MADE FOR THIS PODCAST
If you liked this content, you’ll love this season of the Made For This Podcast where we’ve been going through Jennie’s book Restless. Available anywhere books are sold!
