Passion for Purpose = Progress: A conversation with a loved one.

A conversation with one I love.
So whatever you take upon yourself to do, work at it with all your heart as working for The Lord, not for men.
So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Colossians 3:23-24, Matthew 5:16

Been pondering your words. I know you are not soliciting a response, and certainly, you\’ve had enough advice from us over years that you don\’t need more of that right now.
I just feel like putting my thoughts to words this morning, so humor me?
I have always known you to be a person of great passion and great ambition. You think there is nothing you cant do once you put your mind to it, and I totally agree. At this point in your life you must dig deep and find that one thing that you know has always fired you up…your primal cause. Your reason for being. We all have it, but so few find it because of the distractions along the way…the shiny things along the path, the secondary causes that show up disguised as urgent and important, the present traps the enemy sets for us based upon our past experiences …all of thes are his tactics to steal, kill and destroy. But you are bigger and better not because of who you are, but in spite of who you are because of the one that permanently abides in you. You have proven that time and again.
Every now and then you you make a brilliant choice or come to profound judgement about a thing that amazes me. Your mature assessment of the (nameless boy) thing is an example. I agree. The truth is I don\’t believe that was ever meant to be, but then who am I to say? God is sovereign, and in His divine plan he gave you, us, a most wonderful and priceless gift in Olivia Harper Goetsch. At the same time I am convinced at this point that the vehicle and cisrcumstances through which he provided that gift are no longer relevant and are not an ongoing part of his purpose. There are many great things that have come to pass out of the most miserable of circumstances, but how crazy it would be to not separate those events from the resultant prize?
Always remember Michelle that God is who He says he is and he does what he says he will do, but he will never override your personal choice. The key is to examine every path on the basis of pleasing ONLY him and you WILL find that one thing. We all want that and when it eludes us we are incomplete, frustrated and just plain miserable.
Yet for some reason we would rather endure the price of pain and struggle of that misalignment than the lesser pain of change.
If we knew without doubt the priceless rewards of a full engagement with our purpose would we not risk our very life for it, yet alone the reputation acceptance and approval of peers, or even personal comfort?
One of my mentors reminds me that very often it takes the pain if staying the same to become greater than the pain of change before we will do anything about it.

I heard a funny story the other day (which is not true of course…I mean the story is not true)
When God created Adam in the Garden of Eden he came to him and sasid, \”You know Adam, you\’ve been looking kind of lonely lately. Ive been thinkiong about this idea. I would like to create a companion for you. A woman. She will be everything that you could ever imagine in a companion. Not only that, she will literally worship you, well not quite, but almost. She will cook for you, never argue with you, always be happy around you…etc.
Wow, said Adam. Thats sounds awesome, but it also sounds very expensive. Whats something like that going to cost me? An arm and a leg, says God.
Adam is shocked. \”An arm and a leg?\” thats prettuy steep. What can you do for a rib?\”

Most of the time we dont have the best in life because we think its too costly. Or we dont think it through well enough to realize the benefits. Or, we engage in negative self talk about our purpose that is simply not true. Usually negative thoughts about failure and struggle and so forth.
The bible says, \”As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.\”
We must be very careful about what we think. Thoughts have presence. They find a home. They will always be felt by those around you and will have an impact on your success or failure in life.
I\’m thinking about five things that I heard recently that cause us to become negative about ourselves and our present circumstances.

Discouragement is a huge obstacle to succeeding in our purpose. Its so easy to become discouraged.
One of the main reasons for discouragement is a focus on self.
We get a great idea, or someone invites us into an opportunity and at first it sounds great. Or some circumstance or life event fires us up to pursue a new career.
Its exciting, but almost immediately we start thinking about reasons why we cant to it. And we start telling ourselves that we\’re not good enough. Or we dont deserve it, or we\’re not smart enough. On the other hand as we take up the task of preparation an study we find it becomes increasingly difficult to make it through…transport problems…time away from Liv…hard classes and difficult assignments. Thats the enemy doing what he does best. His task is to dis the courage we started out with, and in this he has become very proficient over the eons. But he underestimates those such as yourself who are saturated with a Divine passion that can deflect anything he can throw at you!
So discouragement will try to hold us back. When we feel that way, we must try to look at it from a different perspective. Maybe speak to someone who knows you and who you trust. Someone who has walked down that road and has got the results you want. Most of all your Heavenly Daddy will renew courage if you press into him and allow him to. Perspectives outside of our own are valuable and enlightening.

So discourage ment will cause you to be negative.

Change can also result in negativity.
When things are not the same as they were. We can become negative because we miss some of the old habits, relationships and activities. This is normal. Remove a boil on the butt and you\’ll miss that too if it\’s been there long enough! Well heres a hard truth. Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. It\’s ok to miss as long as we get past it and do not dwell on it. Change will occur all around you, but the end goal remains true, so keep your focus on that. That is your great prize, and joy in accomplishing that, in crossing the finish line is greater than anything you could possibly imagine.
We will either hate losing enough to change, or we will hate change enough to carry on losing.
George Bernard Shaw said \”Progress cannot happen without change.\”

A third one is Problems, Issue and challenges
Problems should never be a negative obstacle to our future best life. For the Rascal warrior, problems are mere challenges that are invited as a conduit for growth.
Many of the social benefits we enjoy today were a result of problems. One of the most unjust social systems of all time, slavery, resulted in one of the most treasured gifts of all time…Freedom.
We know that In Psychology for instance, some of the best counselors come out of the deepest personal crisis.
Romans 8:35-39 (MSG)
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Here\’s a few good quotes I found about problems and adversity (isn\’t Google amazing?)
\”Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.\” – Billy Graham
\”Obstacles can\’t stop you. Problems can\’t stop you. Most of all other people can\’t stop you. Only you can stop you.\” – Jeffrey Gitomer
\”You may not realize it when it happens, but at kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.\” – Walt Disney
\”Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.\” – Ralph Blum
\”I would never have amounted to anything were it not for adversity. I was forced to come up the hard way.\” – J. C. Penney
\”The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration.\” – Confucius

Another negativity builder is fear. This one is not always self evident.
Someone once said that fear actually brings into reality the very thing that we fear.
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, \”Abba, Father.\”
Fear is also often the result of a focus on self. Don\’t get me wrong. Not saying that that\’s your focus. Just saying that self centeredness can be a major cause of fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of loss, fear of loneliness, etc, etc…
I realized some time ago that the less I am concerned about myself, the more I truly believe that I am born for a loftier purpose than just me and pursue self surrender, the more content I become. In First Knight I think it was when Lancelot was courting Geneveve, he had saved her life a few times and then he competed on the gauntlet at King Arthurs palace and got through it without a scratch. Arthur pulled him aside and asked him the secret to such fearlessness. He answered \”When you have nothing to lose you have nothing to fear\”. Awesome words.
Babe, you cannot ever lose the things that matter to Jesus, mom and me. You cannot lose our love, you cannot lose our acceptance, you cannot lose our appreciation, you cannot lose our protection, etc…
So let not your heart be troubled… Let this be true, and every man a liar.
Finally, Failure. At first I\’m thinking that this doesn\’t apply to you. But then again its not so much that you might think you\’ve failed as it is you think others think you have failed. Ill tell you now, there is nothing wrong with failure. If you\’ve never failed at anything lately its probably because you haven\’t made any decisions…and what good is that? Actually, I don\’t really believe there is such a thing as failure…there\’s only quitting.
So never walk away from your passion just because someone else might think you\’ve taken too long, or you\’ve found a couple of detours along the way…screw them. Its your life, not theirs. Take as long as it takes. Just never quit!
Not sure if you remember the place in the Bible name Kadesh Barnea?
If you read numbers its the story of the Israelites being delivered from Egypt and being guided by God through the wilderness to the Promised Land, Canaan They saw miracle after miracle. They knew God was with them. When they get to Kadesh Barnea God said go take your victory. This is the land I\’ve promised you. I will go with you. But they did not have faith…… They doubted. They let negativity, discouragement, fear, change, all that stuff get the better of them and so they sent someone in to check it out.
God had heard the people\’s incessant murmuring… God had plans for them, yet they would rather have the security of bondage than to step out into the unknown and follow Gods leading….
The result was that He sent them aimlessly wandering in the desert and not one of them ever lived to fulfill their dream OR Gods promise.
The opportunity was stolen from them by rumor and hearsay.
All I can say is that this is your Kadesh Barnea moment. Its time to go out with courage and take a hold of all the promises that are your and to make your name great…to be seperated from the herd…to swim upstream..to be the original that God created you to be and get it done! You\’re a Goetsch and damn proud of it!
I love you!
Dad