Pursuing Your Purpose

Have you ever said to yourself, “If I could do anything for the Kingdom of God, it  would be this!” Or have you ever felt a tug on your heart to go after something  and you find yourself thinking, “Yes! Someday I would love to do that!” If that’s  you, let me ask you why not today? Why not now?  

For me, I know God is putting an idea on my heart when it’s something that I  would have never come up with on my own. I also know it’s God speaking to me  when I find myself making up excuses as to why I shouldn’t do it or to why it  can’t be done.  

When I was a freshman in college, God gave me a vision where I saw myself  opening an orphanage. I saw myself cutting a ribbon, little foreign children  running into and exploring their new house, and jumping on their brand new  beds. In that moment, God spoke to me and said, “Kristie, I want you to start an  orphanage, and I want you to do this while you’re young and in college.”  Immediately I started making up excuses and thinking of all the ways this just  wouldn’t work. I said things like, “I’m 18 years old…how would I get the  money?” “I don’t even know what the first step is to take in order to start  something like that.” “I think this idea is crazy…other people will definitely think  it’s crazy.” Then, I felt God speak to me saying, “People thought Noah was crazy  when I asked him to build the ark, and he saved the world.” I thought, good one  God, you got me there. Then, I sat at my desk and prayed to God saying, “I will  do this for you, but you have to plop every last thing I need to get this done in  my lap. If you do that, I’m in, and if not, I’m out because I know there’s no way I  can do this without you leading the way.” That day, I said “yes” to something  way bigger than myself…unsure of how it would even happen. But, I knew it was  a God thing and not a me thing, so I had to obey.  

Now, the rest of my story is a very long one, that’s a little too long for this blog  post! But, flashing forward to four years after God gave me that first vision as an  18 year old to start an orphanage, the vision came to life! Throughout my years  of college, a ministry called Kingdom Kids Homes was birthed and we opened  our first orphanage right after I graduated college for 16 children in Haiti. I will  never forget the day I cut the ribbon and 16 children ran into their brand new  home and jumped on their brand new beds! Now, we have the orphanage in  Haiti, a Christian school in Haiti with 63 students, and we are currently working  on starting an orphanage for girls in Guatemala. All of this was on the other side  of my yes. 

Now, let me ask you, who is on the other side of your yes? What is it that you  feel God stirring your heart to do? What is it that breaks your heart? What is  something you would do to make a difference for the Kingdom if you could do  anything?  

First off, if you have no idea what the answer would be to those few questions  above, let me encourage you to pray! Pray for God to give you God-sized  dreams and to reveal the call He has for your life to you. He will do just that in  His perfect timing and in His perfect way.  

Now, if you do know what God is stirring you to do, what’s stopping you from going after it? All it takes is a simple yes and a few small steps forward and  believe me, God will take that and run with it just like He did for me.  

One of my favorite quotes is from the book Circle Maker by Mark Batterson. It  says, “God is not offended by your biggest dreams and boldest prayers. He is  offended by anything less. If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they’re  insulting to God.” God loves when his people dream big dreams and pray big  prayers. Sometimes, in our human mind, we think praying about a big dream or  call might be too much. But, God doesn’t want us to do anything less! He wants  us to have bold dreams, big visions, and to pray impossible prayers because the  people who do that are the exact people God looks to use.  

Think about some of the people in the Bible who made a big difference because  of their yes to God. Noah saved the future world by saying yes to building an  ark. Moses freed a whole nation from 400 years of captivity because of his yes.  Joshua led the Israelites through the wilderness and into the promised land  because of his yes. Mary brought the Savior of the world to this earth because  of her yes.  

God can do amazing, Kingdom shaking things through His people when we fully  submit to him and obey him no matter what the cost. I want to encourage you  today to say yes and begin to go after God’s purpose for your life. Whatever He  has put on your heart to do, big or small, obey Him and go after it with all your  heart. Luke 16:10 says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be  trusted with much.” Start obeying God even in the little things and He will give  you much, much more.  

If not you, then who? God has called YOU, not someone else, to go after the call  He has specifically laid out for your life. He is waiting for YOU to obey and say  yes. There will always be a new excuse we can come up with. A few I have used  before are: “I’m too young.” “I’m too busy.” “That’s too big.” “I don’t have time.”  “People will think that’s weird.” And sadly there’s many more. It’s so easy to make up excuse after excuse and to never go after the call of God on your life.  But, God is looking for people who will say “Here I Am. Send me!” He will use  people with a willing, available, and obedient heart.  

I will leave you with this final quote…another one of my favorites! “You never know who or what is hanging in the balance of your decision to  embrace the dream God has put on your heart.”  

For me, lots of homeless, starving, uneducated, abused children living in total  poverty were hanging in the balance. Souls who could spend eternity with Jesus  were hanging in the balance. Everyday, I am so thankful I said yes. It’s not  always been easy, but it’s always been worth it.  

Say YES to whatever He is calling you to do! You won’t regret it. It’ll be the best  ride of your life and you’ll probably impact a lot of lives for the Kingdom along  the way. There’s nothing better than obeying God’s call on your life and walking  right in the middle of His plan for you. There’s truly no better place to be!