Lately I've been reading the book "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris. It has really encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and follow God's plan for me instead of just doing what God wants when it is only a little hard. I was to help change the world, as I shared that with you at the beginning of this blog, but since we live in a culture where there are so many low expectations, my serving twice a week at church seemed pretty good. I serve at my church quite frequently because helping children is one of my gifts. But, I have over the last year felt God prompting me to do something bigger. Because of today's culture, I have a lot of people telling me that I just need to wait until I am out of high school, until I have graduated from college to do anything big and world changing, but after reading the book, "Do Hard Things", I have received the encouragement I needed to step out and make a difference. I urge, encourage, invite, hope, and pray that you read this book too for it an outstanding book.
In order to really get started on this project, they gave me five steps in this books to follow:
- Identify what you need to get honest with and with who.
- Decided what negative actions or patterns need to end.
- Recognized which people could best help you get from position A to B and made a plan to get connected with those people.
- Figured out one or two key action steps that, once taken, will make it a lot tougher to back out and decide when and how you will take your steps.
- Acknowledge that you can't succeed without God's help, so made a practical plan to stay close to Him.
- I'll get honest with you guys as well as with my family. I have felt this ambition for a long time; it probably started when I was ten. I started to take action in the middle of this year. The plan was to raise money to support my cousin who works in Bolivia with Word Made Flesh, an organization helping women that work in prostitution. My heart really went out to those women, but once the plan started, the job suddenly did not seem so fun. After all, I would not be able to actually work with those people, all I would be doing would be asking people for money and fundraising, which is NOT something I enjoy doing. I told a few people and then chickened out. I backed off and convinced myself I would get to this project next year.
- I need to stop making excuses. The problem with me is that I sin more mentally than I do physically, which makes it harder for other people to correct me. I think bad things in my brain, make excuses, argue, and fight, but because it is all mental, no one else can really help me. It is not like people can read my mind and say, "Oh, remember, you are not suppose to be focusing on those things." I convince myself that certain things are okay; I lie to myself. So, from now on, I am going to write scriptures on my hands or arms so that when I am dwelling on the negative, I can read the scriptures on me and focus on the truth.
- Hannah, my sister and my mom I am pretty sure are going to be my more dependable people. The rest of my friends will probably like the idea, but I am not sure how long they will go with it. I shall talk with my sister and mom today and I will talk with Hannah the first week in January if not sooner.
- I am posting this to you all and I want you to all keep me accountable for sticking to this. I am also planning on talking to my family and having them keep me accountable too, maybe even my Facebook friends.
- There is NO way I could possibly ever do this without God's help. I always read my devotions in the morning and try and connect with God. I do need to pray more, so that is a habit I need to form to get closer to God.
So, that is that. Now before all this, I probably should have decided what I am going to do... Yes, well the problem is I have so many things I want to do. There are so many people I want to help.
People that are abused, handicapped, homeless, sick children in hospitals, stopping abortion, stopping bullying, supporting other missionaries, helping orphans... I have so many thoughts I'm not sure what to do with them all. I'm sort-of discombobulated. I'm not really sure where to start and how to begin. I suppose by brainstorming with my friends and family. Please comment what your input would be too.
~Daughter of the Light
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