Choose to be Open

Choose to be open. To be open is to be receptive and ready to receive.

When I choose to be open and receive what God wants for my life, I believe that I need to surrender my wants, needs, and desires to Him.

Umph.

One of the reasons it is hard for me to surrender is that it means I have to give up control. I have to give up control of MY wants. I have to give up control of the outcome.

My friend, I am not good at the whole giving up control thing. I am going to take a wild guess and assume that most of you aren’t good at it either.

We are typically trained early in life to set goals and follow OUR dreams.

I worked in Human Resources for over 30 years, and that is one thing we focused on a lot! What goals do you have for the next quarter, next year, in five years?

Goals were hard for me to set. Heck, I didn’t know what I wanted for dinner, let alone what I want five years from now!

How many of you can relate?

There are also those individuals who love goal setting, individuals who have their whole life planned out. It might look something like this: Go to college. Work for a couple years. Date someone. Get married. After three years have kids, one girl and one boy.

Maybe you are someone who relates more to this.

Don’t get me wrong, setting goals and following dreams aren’t a bad thing. It’s important to have things to work towards. In order to accomplish something, we first need a goal, a hope, a vision.

“Where there is no vision, the people will perish...”

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

Once our goals are set, we then rate ourselves on how well we accomplish them. We rate ourselves on how our children turn out; how much we exercise; how many “likes” we get on a social media post; how good we are at planning the perfect parties and trips, the list goes on and on.

So, what happens when all this planning doesn’t turn out how we envision?

My 30 years in Human Resources came to an abrupt change after losing my dad in 2010 and sister in 2011. Life was not turning out how I envisioned. I found myself questioning life and how quickly it can change. Did I really have any control over my life at all?

I learned during this time that my life and my dreams are not really within my control. That control is just an illusion I have. The only one truly in control is God Himself.

As I looked deeper into the verse up above from Proverbs, I began realizing that when God is speaking of vision in this verse, He isn’t talking about MY vision, He is actually talking about HIS vision for me, HIS purpose for my life.

What I do have control of is choosing to be open to what God has planned for me and what He is asking me to do. My goals need to be based on me being open to His vision for my life.

As I began seeking and being open to God’s vision, my prayer was to have an open mind, a humble heart, and faithful feet to walk where He leads me. I chose to open my heart and embrace the circumstances in my life in order to fulfill the mission and purpose that God has for me.

Once I did this, I also had to be ready to pivot! God led me to exactly where I am today. God led me to publishing a book. God led me to a role I never imagined of being an inspirational speaker. God led me to my friend, Jill. And God then led us together to Choose Ministry.

I am so grateful.

It doesn’t mean I don’t face hard times and trials in life. It does mean that I have a joy and peace that only comes from Him.

The rest of Proverbs 19:18 says, “but he who keeps the law, happy is he.”

I know you will not regret where God leads you and fulfilling the vision He has planned for you.

My friend, I encourage you, choose to be open. Choose to receive.

With love and joy,

Laura