What is it that “lights your fire”?

What thought is it that awakens you in the morning more vibrantly than does your unwelcome alarm clock? 

What desire is it that causes you to jump out of bed with purpose and with passion?

What is your final thought in the evening before you drift off into a sleep that is brimming with dreams of all that is possible simply because you have been given the gift of life?

What is it that causes you to suck in another breath … to live another day … to move beyond the mundane toward the meaningful?

What is it?!

We have all been created on purpose … with purpose … and for purpose.  

Why is it then that so few of us actually live in that sweet spot of God-given purpose?

Why is it that we are content to settle for mediocrity, for half-a-life, for busyness rather than for usefulness?

Why is it that we would rather spin plates recklessly and fruitlessly than serve others from those same plates that are ferociously spinning?

Why is it that we would rather be enmeshed in creature comforts than in taking those comforts that we have been undeservedly given and share them with a world desperate for a mere word of comfort?

Why is it?

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it seems that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” – C. S. Lewis

Why is it that we are far too easily pleased?

Let me ask you yet another deeply probing question on our journey toward joy this week …

What is it that only you were made to accomplish in the Kingdom of God?

And while I am at it, let me pose one more question to that desert wasteland of your soul today …

Who are you?!

Who were you created to become?  

You see when God first thought of you, He thought of a man or a woman fully alive and wholeheartedly committed to the task that He had set before each one.

God knew that within your human soul, He had placed the answer for discouragement, for fractured relationships and for half-hearted living.

You are God’s answer to a world spinning out of control!

When God first thought of you before the beginning of time … He was intent on empowering you to live in your grandest purpose!

Who are you?  

Are you living the life that God intended for you to live?

You were made for joy … you were made for peace … and you were made for kindness.

You were made to be an agent of reconciliation who would venture to go where other human beings refused to go. 

You were specifically created to take the light of Jesus Christ to dark and lonely corridors of the world.

You were made to be a valiant prayer warrior that made hell shake in intimidation and heaven roar with approval.  

You were not made to give up, to throw in that infamous towel or to linger around the gates of discouragement.

Your life is a perfect fit for heaven’s power!  

You were made to be a vessel of all that God can do through a human being during your tenure on planet earth.

Live like you were made on purpose because you were!

Live like you were made for more because you were!

Live like God needs you today because He does!

Pray like your prayers get heaven’s attention because they do!

Give like your contribution to eternity matters because it does!

Celebrate like heaven is watching your common life because it is!

Spread joy like you were made of it because you are!

And when you lay your head upon your wrinkled and welcoming pillow tonight, do it with the satisfaction that God has been pleased with the way that you engineered your day … your life … and your purpose.

So many of us wait for that big break in life and stand paralyzed like a deer caught in the headlights until God moves exponentially.

God has moved!  

He has given you a rich and glorious life! 

“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.” – Psalm 139:14-15

Every day of your life is a fresh and inviting opportunity to smear the character of God on the world that is longing for just a taste of heaven.

We wait for a baby to be born … for a spouse to enter the picture … for a pay raise … for a vacation in Hawaii … for the earning of a degree … for the winning lottery ticket.

And while you are waiting … Live today like your life matters because it does!

Love the children that you have been given … play games with them … serve dessert on an ordinary day … read an extra bedtime story … giggle an afternoon away … and never stop singing to the miracles that heaven has deposited in your life!

Write your spouse a love letter … snuggle on the couch together … buy flowers for no reason … remember what it was like when you first fell in love … pray for one another without ceasing.

Work diligently at your job even if you hate it!  Ask God to give you wisdom and perseverance … love the people in your office … buy doughnuts … write encouraging e-mails … talk kindly about everyone you work with.

If you aren’t married yet … pray for your spouse!  Ask God to help you become the husband or wife that your spouse will need.  Develop the fruits of the Spirit in your life so that someday you will be a joy to live with.  Read books about marriage and wait well.

If you don’t have children yet … volunteer at church and work in the nursery.  Teach Sunday School … babysit for a family on a Friday night so that the mom and dad can have a date.  Go on a missions trip and love the children of another nation.

Don’t wait for life to happen to you … create a life so grand and so miraculous that even God is excited to see what exactly you will do next!

So let me ask you again …

What is it that lights your fire?

Why are you here?

Who did God create you to become?

Answer those questions … and you will live a life of abundance and miraculous value!

Thanks for listening to my heart this week.  As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me.  And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!

Carol McLeod

Carol says, “I am just a girl who is head over heels in love with Jesus ... passionately addicted to His Word ... and find all of the joy that I need in time spent in His presence." Carol is a Christmas-aholic, loves ACC basketball and the beach! Like all menopausal women, she is overly fond of chocolate and enjoys a good read. She doesn't like cleaning her house and is an expert in carry-out dinners. She hates to shop … loves to jog … and somehow finds time in her busy life to hang out with small children. She is the kind of woman that you could laugh with over lunch, cry with over disappointment and shout with over a victory! But … if you need her official bio … read on! Carol is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. She also hosts highly successful Just Joy! outreaches. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. Carol has written three books, "Holy Estrogen!", "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart" and "Defiant Joy!" which was released by a subsidiary of Thomas Nelson. Her teaching DVD, "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart", won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award, for excellence in religious programming. Carol has also been featured on YouVersion (the smart phone Bible app) with several devotionals, including: "For the Journey Set Before Him", "Jolt of Joy", and "Joy to YOUR world", " Carol has a daily radio program, "Defiant Joy! Radio" which is available in several national markets including Youngsville PA, Warren PA, Buffalo NY, Roanoke VA, Norfolk VA, and Nashville TN.  A 1977 graduate of Oral Roberts University with a degree in Music and English, Carol has the distinction of being both the first Women's Chaplain and the first woman to speak at the university's Vespers.  Carol currently serves on the ORU Alumni Board as chaplain.  She is married to her college sweetheart and love of her life, Craig, who serves as senior pastor of Life Church, a church near Buffalo, NY.  Craig and Carol have been happily married for nearly 37 years and are the parents of five children and three delightful daughters-in-law. Craig and Carol are thrilled with the joy of being grandparents to five precious grandchildren! Carol has written three books, "Holy Estrogen!", "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart" and "Defiant Joy!" which was released by a subsidiary of Thomas Nelson. Her teaching DVD, "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart", won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award, for excellence in religious programming. Carol has also been featured on YouVersion (the smart phone Bible app) with several devotionals, including: "For the Journey Set Before Him", "Jolt of Joy", and "Joy to YOUR world", " Carol has a daily radio program, "Defiant Joy! Radio" which is available in several national markets including Youngsville PA, Warren PA, Buffalo NY, Roanoke VA, Norfolk VA, and Nashville TN.  A 1977 graduate of Oral Roberts University with a degree in Music and English, Carol has the distinction of being both the first Women's Chaplain and the first woman to speak at the university's Vespers.  Carol currently serves on the ORU Alumni Board as chaplain.  She is married to her college sweetheart and love of her life, Craig, who serves as senior pastor of Life Church, a church near Buffalo, NY.  Craig and Carol have been happily married for nearly 37 years and are the parents of five children and three delightful daughters-in-law. Craig and Carol are thrilled with the joy of being grandparents to five precious grandchildren!