It’s locked in you. You know it. You feel it.
It’s a sacred stirring. You sense it so deeply that you know it’s not an inkling of your imagination but rather an igniting of God’s revelation. God is pointing you in the direction of this idea. You are thrilled by the general sense of it. You are willing to do it. You are eager for the specifics and desperate for the details to come into focus.
You just can’t get a clear picture of what it is.
You just haven’t figured out how to get to it.
This is the chaos of the creative who gets close, very close to their very best idea ever.
I know this version of blurry vision. My eyes have longed to see and my fingers have pulsed to touch the defined edges of this buried brilliance that feels as uncertainly certain as the wind. I feel it, but I can’t hold it.
So, we go to God with this declaration of desperation, “Please, Lord, give me this very best idea ever!”
But God is too good to do this to us, my friend.
We don’t know the weight for which we are asking. Our very best idea feels as light as a feather when it’s a general notion floating in and out of our dreams. But it carries with it a crushing weight if it lands on a person’s character unprepared for this calling.
Here are some truths we need to know about a very best idea ever:
It will never fix the insecurities we think popularity will cover up. It will only expose them to the world.
It’s a weight we should wait for.
It will never make us happier, more satisfied, or more significant. Those who think it will be the making of them discover it’s actually the breaking of them.
It’s a weight we should wait for.
It will never ease the burden of us wondering if we have what it takes. It’s a resource that will take everything we have if we make it our “source” of assurance.
It’s a weight we should wait for.
Even so, don’t brush this very best idea away. Don’t fear the weight of this idea and certainly don’t run from it. Hold onto it, but even more so let God hold onto you. He will shape your idea as He sculpts you to better create it, deliver it, and see it all the way through.
I fully believe God made the very DNA of your being to carry it and bless the world with it. We need your very best idea ever!
But we need the very best you, first.
So, today, your very best idea is to seek to become the very best version of you. And for me to become the very best version of me.
Not a perfect person. Not a pretending person. Not a performance-based person.
No, not that.
But rather a person whose character has been developed to carry the weight of their calling. That’s the one about whom on the most ordinary of days God whispers, “They are ready for the extra weight of the extraordinary idea.”
Read more of Lysa’s book The Best Yes as a great resource.
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As usual Lysa you make sense of what sometimes feels like ‘crazy’. I’m blown away day after day at God’s unfolding what He had planned for me all along; my good, bad & ugly are exactly what I needed in order to be prepared for the day when that oh, so far away blurry vision started to get clearer. Girl, that’s when ‘crazy’ starts to become ‘scary’ and you almost wish for it to be a little hazy again, but then God sends resources you didn’t know existed your way, people start talking about needing your ‘crazy’ idea that you didn’t tell anyone about, then follow it up with – hey, you should do this… Yeah, God’s pretty awesome like that and not days after sharing my idea with some close peeps and a meeting (totally out of my comfort zone) today, I sit down to pray and ask God if I need glasses then I find this in my email! Yup, God is pretty awesome and worthy of ALL glory, honor and praise!
I needed to hear this today!! Thank you for sharing your heart, and what God speaks through you! I am truly blessed every time I read your blogs!♡
Lysa,
I am almost 55 years old and I am being called to my very highest calling…to start a foundation for orphaned and impoverished children so that they might have a chance at something they could only dream about – an education. We fund Christian schools so that these children are brought up with the greatest commandment – Love God with all your heart and love others with the love of Jesus. I have to admit that this was not my original idea…it was God’s. My “big idea” was to write and my writing led me down a path to begin this foundation. As is often the case – God gives us a glimpse and asks us to trust Him with seeing the big picture and to keep walking forward in faith. As you said…we need to trust His timing!
Blessings,
Bev
Thank you for encouraging me, Bev. I’ll turn 55 this year. While still going through 4+++ of the most difficult years of my life, I’ve been depressed and felt so very alone. As if God has forgotten me. I don’t see a way out, much less the “big picture”.
Your post is a reminder to me that God will lead and use each of us, no matter what age we are! ♡
Lela,
If you’ve been feeling this way for a long time, I sincerely encourage you to seek help. Continuing and unrelenting depression is an illness and is treatable. I know, I’ve suffered episodes all my life. The enemy is then using that to feed you the lie that you are alone and God has forgotten you. NOTHING could be farther from the truth. God’s love for you is unfathomable and it never ebbs and flows (that’s the enemy) telling you that. God uses MD’s and counselors to help us through the very trying times of our life. It is not failure to seek help. With help God brought me through 4-5 years (some of the hardest of my life) and lovingly placed my feet on the Rock. He’s given me a new song of praise for rescuing me. He can do this for you too!! You are his precious daughter and He loves you. He wants you to be whole and as His child He has a “big picture” in store for you too!! No age is ever too late for God!! Praying for you sweet sister!!
Love and ((hugs)),
Bev
ps If you ever want to talk: bevduncan103@yahoo.com
Thank you for your prayers! I have taken many steps to get through this, including a Christian female therapist. At the same time, I’ve tried to be in control and force things to turn around, but gotten no where. I have a month to find a job to support myself, a place to live, and a vehicle. I just haven’t handled being single again very well. …..at all! Not how I pictured my life at this stage. Seems I’ve sunk to an all time low at a late age. While I didn’t see this coming, I know God did. And He will see me through.
Blessings to you and yours ~♡
Lela,
I will keep you in my prayers and YES, God sees what we cannot and He is in control. Truth I clung to when I found myself alone again in middle age. It seems to be epidemic. God’s got this and He’s got you! He promises to walk with us THROUGH the valleys and not leave us stuck in them. Prayers and blessings, xx
I have turned 57 and I’m excited and scared at the same time. God is real to me! I keep looking up to see when He will catch us in the sky! I work part-time and that’s enough for me. I’m married and have a 17 yrd old son who is smoking pot and I know I need to encourage our son to really know Jesus! It’s hard! Prayers for you!
Bev, what an inspiration! How do I find out more about your foundation?
Thanks Cindy for your interest. The foundation is: Redeemer Christian Foundation, Inc. We do not have a website for an important reason. Though we DO want to get the word out about the needs of these precious children in the Middle East, we DO NOT want information getting into the hands of those who would wish to do them harm. I invite you to join me at my blog, “Walking Well With God” (you can google it). Go to the “MISSIONS” tab and there is information there about the Foundation, a post I wrote on the school, and an opportunity to give. Thank you for your interest and compassionate heart. Together we can build bridges, not walls in the name of Jesus…
Blessings,
Bev xx
Thanks so much Bev. Goodness such a world we live in. God bless you for loving the children!
I was amazed to read this this morning, as the truths you write about here are exactly what God has recently been impressing upon my heart as I ask Him about why things haven’t unfolded in my life as I would have preferred……and He’s been showing me just what you are saying; that the big idea, or mountaintop experience, or fruition of the gift I’ve been so hoping for isn’t the main thing; that would be a benefit of a life well lived, being the best me I can be. I cannot be effective “out there” if I’m not being obedient to God right where I’m planted with the small tribe He’s already given me. I’m always looking outside of me, elsewhere, comparing myself to others, when in fact God’s saying “Let’s get your soul’s house clean and then we’ll just see where that goes…..” He’s showing me just what you stated – We don’t know, understand, or appreciate the weight for which we are asking. To us, the grass is always greener and that sort of thing. We have no idea. Best to wait on His timing, His plans, His way.
Such great words — thank you!
Character. Yes. God is producing the best work in us yet it will not be fruitful if we are not preparing ourselves for it. Our inner self. Forming our identity around God and not around whatever else it is we are seeking, or what may be seeking us: more fame, more money, more recognition, more significance, more… you fill in the blank. Thank you for this reminder to wait for this vision to take until we are ready to handle the burden of it. A burden with both life and hardship attached. Xoxo
It was two weeks ago that I felt it again….the feeling of becoming an author….this feeling becomes intense when I wear my turtle neck green sweater and black pants with matching sneaker that I felt very comfortable in when I wear this outfit….It felt like I was being encompasses or I was being enveloped by light when I feel this feeling of becoming an author. Last week I felt it again in the early morning when I was communing with him and guided to buy a composition book to write my life story, it said in the small still voice that “I have something to tell to the world”, after that I felt some kind of enemy were present.
Thank you Lysa! The Lord had impressed on me to start this journey of becoming a better me a few months ago. My heart still aches to have what my husband and I had in the past, as we will celebrate 40 years of marriage in June. I had done several Bible studies to try to make things better for us, prayed and prayed and prayed some more. Even asked others to pray…as a unspoken request. I’m not being proud, I just don’t want people thinking it’s my husbands fault because he is a veteran with PTSD. I know I have faults and I know I’m probably the reason we don’t have what I again desire for us. I also realized we are not the same people we were even in our 40’s. I’m close to 60 and he is a bit older. But I still believe God wants more for our relationship than what we have. So I’m trying to be obedient and allow the Lord to work in me. How else am I going to feel better about celebrating our 40th anniversary if I’m not who God wants me to be. BTW I have doubts there will be a celebration. I’m not a pessimist, trying to keep myself grounded so I won’t be deeply hurt once again.
Amen, sometimes it good to wait cause we have our ideas set on things and although, they are wonderful God has not prepared them for us as yet, so we have to wait for his very best in order to see what he has in store for us.
I just sat down to dive into what I call my “creative brainstorming” for today’s tasks when I opened Lysa’s blog article. God is awesome. Lysa, your message is timely. Thank you.
This post resonates with me. It comes down to choosing to be content with where God has me today. Not complacent, but seeking to grow into who He’s created me to be. Not anxious to get moving into better plans. Content, open to learning. This is my daily desire.
Loved this, Lysa!
I’m just speechless. I just keep reading it over and over. Thank you for this so much!
Lysa, so much to reflect on here. I have had this “idea” gifted to me and rather than let God lead me forward, in His Timing, I’ve pressed my toes into the sand a lot, looking around and down for reassurance before moving, rather than trusting God with my palms open and empty.
But one nudge after the other has been pushing me forward and I’ve found this to be so very true: “He will shape your idea as He sculpts you to better create it, deliver it, and see it all the way through.” He’s sculpting me alright, by letting me experience human disapproval in close quarters and placing me around others who have made me feel inadequate because I’ve fallen back to worshipping the idols of human love and approval.
But He’s also been insistent in pushing me forward, bringing verse after verse, sermon after sermon, worship song after worship song and the advice of friends to point me away from looking down and around to looking up…and trusting the One who sees and knows it all. I have moved forward a lot, but this is a definite nudge to greater trust I needed to hear. Thank you.
I need to move forward in Him, rather than turning to others to “help” me because I’m too scared to step into the dark and risk greater disapproval and belittling.
Ever since I was stumbled onto this ministry and more specifically your posts I have been more than awakened in Spirit. The message you pass on is spoken directly into my heart…not around it, not in front of it, not behind it, not even to it but INTO it. The gentleness of each word, the eloquence of the message is so God breathed that I feel such a deep connection to our Heavenly Father. I too come up with ideas mostly on my own (my husband calls them “bees in my bonnet”) and in my haste of excitement I (in my own power) try and put them into action. And more times than not I have gotten stung…..thank you for this powerful message, thank you for reminding me to take my bees captive and carry them to the Lord first and foremost, Thank you for sparing me the sting of my own haste….for the bees that are to produce the honey from the one who created them will be shown to me in perfect order and in perfect time. Thank you Father God, for this message, slow me down when my bees start to buzz, help me to take each idea to you first and then show me with your guiding hand how to spread the sweetness of your Love….In Jesus Holy Name…Amen
Oh Boy! From your words to my heart! I recently retired after 32 years of teaching and I was so sure that God had some wonderfully big thing in store for me. Now, it’s a year and a half later and I’m still waiting. Discouraged? Sad? Lost? Worried? Yes to all of those! Much to my dismay, “WAIT” was even my word for 2015. What you have shared here is a perspective I’ve never thought about before. I’m really going to let it soak in. I really, really wish I knew what my next best idea will be but until then I think the work God has brought to me for 2016 is “TRUST”. For this ole gal, that will be a challenge! Thank you for being such an inspiration in the lives of so many of us!
Such healthy words for us all Lisa, Thank you. Because really… we all want to be the best version of us. I think that sometimes we buy into believing that we aren’t enough. Almost as if we tried harder to care, speak, give, cook, write, sing, lead, or parent like _____, we would be better at being us! You are so right… we are equipped to carry the weight of our own calling. Soaking that up tonight.
~Jenny
Ive been praying, and waiting, and hoping. Ive wondered …why the silence lord? After all this isnt about me and my ego. IM not wanting to do this for self am I? Then I read what you game Lysa to share. Its true a project this intense may very well crush me at this time. Thank You Father for knowing me better than I do. I am now ready to hear my Next steps.AMEN
Thank you Lysa for sharing your words…so timely.
Mostly, I think my very best idea ever is letting God work in me. I am a recovering self-condemner, a new mom, and full of ideas to explore my creative side to the glory of God. My ideas include grace, thankfulness, practice, modeling those characteristics in my daughter’s life, art projects, and blogging. I’m working at putting them all together to create a life of grace and gratitude. I’m confident it’s one big thing God’s called me to be. But I work at it just a little at a time, seeking the best version of me in Christ one day at a time.
Thank you, Beth! I will be sure to read the others. ♡
Great article. I’m struggling with trying to put my “big idea” into motion. God placed the idea in my head and told me what it meant and what to do with it but I’m still at a loss at what direction to go into.