Let me preface this by stating my personality type: INTJ. Straight from the website, a portion of my mind is painted, ridiculously accurately, as follows:

As an INTJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via your intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things rationally and logically.

INTJs live in the world of ideas and strategic planning. They value intelligence, knowledge, and competence, and typically have high standards in these regards, which they continuously strive to fulfill. To a somewhat lesser extent, they have similar expectations of others. (http://www.personalitypage.com/INTJ.html).

 

I was born a realist. I can assure you of that! I doubt, I plan, I make it work, I discard the absurd, I disbelieve in the existence of soul mates.

But I have been born again. And with Jesus, I am a woman of lofty hope.

Lofty hope.

 

And I know it’s His work because it sure isn’t me. I hope because I have faith in something that transcends the things of the world that encourage hopelessness. And I have faith because I have been loved by the God who created love itself, who personifies it.

I’ve said before that perfect love casts out fear, that God’s grace is sufficient for you, that if He is for you, nothing and no one can be against you. Those aren’t really my words, they’re His, from the Bible. That book. They aren’t just pretty verses, they are words of life. They further explain why I’m a dreamer.

We all desire something. At some point, we realize that we can’t have everything that we want, that we have to choose. Oftentimes, we then decide that the spectacular is unattainable in every category of our desires, that we can’t have a wonderful piece of anything. That, my friend, is what I find to be obnoxious. God made me in His image, to display His majesty. Why then ought I not to shine somewhere? I am His, and what is mine is His. He gave me some sort of talent, some way to shine, to reflect His greatness. He has a purpose for every creation.

This is not an excuse for pride; that’s not the point at all. This is a chance to see that once you realize that He gave you whatever goodness you have, it is certainly not your place to bottle it up inside. Use that gift to serve the world that He loves, because they need it! They need it. He fulfills someone’s need, somewhere, through you.

And don’t be afraid. Don’t fear circumstances, financials, lack of inherent ability. If you are called to something, He will be enough for you. He will help you get there. You might not get there on the first try, but if your dream is His, you will get there. Because He is bigger than literally everything else.

(Let’s recall quickly that I’m an INTJ. We don’t say fuzzy stuff like this. We just don’t.

But I do. Because I am Jesus’ not just an INTJ. He transcends even the makeup of my brain. If that doesn’t say something, I don’t know what does.)

With Jesus as a finisher of my faith, I have no lasting fears of career or relationships. He’s enough for me. He desires my best. Knowing that, I can pursue His work with a hope that seems lofty, reckless. And it doesn’t always make sense. But I don’t care. I honestly don’t care. Because I don’t have to fear. I have no fear that God will be by my side, long term. I have full confidence that He’ll be with me through loss, sickness, longing, failure, death. I have full confidence that my path leads only to one place, that whatever this world can throw at me will never be too much for Him.

If I don’t get what I want? Who I want? Long term, I just don’t mind. I don’t mind because if He says no, it’s for my best. If He says, “wait,” it’s for my best. And the big dreams that I can’t even put into words? He’ll confirm them, if they are in His plan. So whatever He puts into my heart, I’ll pursue until the road ends, whether the world thinks it’ll work or not. Because the world doesn’t know my God, what He can do, what He’s already done.

I pray for you: that you pursue that which you’re scared to pursue, that you ask God for success so that you can tell the world how wonderful He is, or failure if you’re hearing Him wrong, if this isn’t actually the right thing.  I pray that you desire to submit all things to the Father.

***And yeah, I believe in soul mates, now. For a simple reason: God ordains all things, so why wouldn’t He make some people for each other?