About Holley Gerth

Holley Gerth is the best-selling author of You're Already Amazing, You’re Made for a God-sized Dream and several other books. She’s also the cofounder of (in)courage. Holley has been married to Mark for thirteen years, lives in the South and would love to have coffee with you at HolleyGerth.com.

Why We Don’t Have to Be Afraid of “Failure”

April 9, 2018 By Holley Gerth 9 Comments

Our part is not control. It’s not results. It’s obedience.

It’s intimacy with the One who asks us to trust him even when nothing makes sense.

— You’re Made for a God-sized Dream, Chapter 7

We live in a world of numbers. We can measure everything in our lives from pounds on a scale to the amount of friends we have on Facebook. That makes it tempting to measure the success of our God-sized dream in a similar way too. It makes us feel safer to tell ourselves, “When I reach this specific goal, then I will be a success.”

Even if we don’t attach a number to it, we can still come up with other ways of being able to check the “success” box on our lives. Happy family. Flourishing career. Deep spiritual life. Yet God calls us to see success differently. He doesn’t measure or define it like we do. Rather than seeking a result, He invites us to see success as part of a relationship.

To say it simply: true success is being a good and faithful servant who brings happiness to our Master. “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness! (Matt. 25: 21) What does this look like in our daily lives?

First, the word “good” is about our character. It describes who we are. Thankfully, we don’t have to make ourselves “good.” Indeed, there’s no way we even can. We’re sinners who need a Savior. Yet when we receive what Jesus did for us, we do become “good.” And we bring our Master joy as we live out more and more of who we already are in Him. As Paul said, “Only let us live up to what we have already attained” (Phil. 3:16).

The word “faithful” describes our actions, what we do. In other words, being faithful means being trustworthy and obedient. God can count on us to say yes to what He asks of us and to follow through on it. Will we mess up? Absolutely. What counts is that when we do, we come running back to our Master and let Him help us.

In essence, success means yielding to the ongoing process of Jesus transforming us in every area of our lives. When we do so, we bring Him joy. It’s beautiful the way this verse describes it: “enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21 NASB). In other words, the joy of the Master in His servant is ongoing.

Success means yielding to the ongoing process of Jesus transforming us in every area of our lives.

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Many of us go through life believing that God barely tolerates us— that He’s just hanging on until we get to heaven when He can actually enjoy us. But that’s not true. You can (and do) bring God joy right now. What this also means is that if you are obedient, you cannot fail. Oh, it may look like it in the eyes of the world at times. It may seem as if your dreams go wrong. But if you are faithful to your Master, then you are a success no matter what.

We can simply get up each morning and pray, “God, I am Your servant. Do with me what You will. Use me as little or as much as You want.” In ways that can’t be measured, beyond what we can count or even imagine, He will answer that prayer. And when we are home with Him, we’ll celebrate together—forever.

Shared by: Holley Gerth

An InLinkz Link-up

Thriving as a Dreamer for Life

August 16, 2017 By Holley Gerth 4 Comments

Let us run with endurance the race marked out for us.

Hebrews 12:1

I tell this to my friend sitting across the table from me. “We can do all the flashy things that people tell us are required,” I say. “We can fill up our calendars until we’re exhausted. We can be loud and out front all the time. But I’m convinced the people who live and work that way are sprinters. They’ll move on and at the end of their lives they’ll say, ‘One time I wrote a book’ or ‘One time I did this cool thing.’ And that will be enough. They’re going for speed—not distance.”

This is not a criticism; sprinting has a time and place. I sprinted to get my master’s degree. To finish my counseling internship. To launch a web site. During a whirlwind season of speaking. But I have come to understand that while sprinting is doable, it is not sustainable.

So if you plan to do something not for a while but for as long as you can because you love it, feel called to it, and the touch of heaven is on it, then sprinting is not the solution. Instead, live and work like you’re going the distance. This means adopting a different pace. It means showing up over and over. It means letting people pass you. It means refusing to give in to the fear that you should always be doing more and instead continuing to faithfully, unglamorously do what matters most.

Professionally and personally, for me, this means I just want to love God and people well for a long time. When I first said this out loud, tears came to my eyes. Because it felt like coming home. I’m built more for slow and steady. I realized this only after years of frustration and exhaustion.

“Let us run with endurance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). That one word—endurance—says to me that life is not all sprinting. This makes no sense in our instant world. It’s upside down in the time of social media updates. It seems less sexy and exciting than the fast and the fancy. But it’s reassuring too, isn’t it? To know we don’t have to push so hard. We don’t have to go big or go home. We can just be obedient and leave the results to God.

We don’t have to go big or go home. We can just be obedient and leave the results to God.

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I hope sometimes we get to go fast. To experience moments with the wind in our hair, the hearts in our chests pumping wildly, and the ground a blur beneath our feet. But I’m asking Jesus that we also get to go far. To make it around all the bends in the road. To watch the leaves turn from green to amber gold. To have like-hearted companions with us. To kick up our tennis shoes like they’ve grown wings and just take the next step, the next step, all the way.

Let’s keep running our race at our pace. We’re doing better than we know.

See you at the finish.

XOXO

Holley Gerth

P.S. This post in an excerpt from Holley’s soon-to-be-released book Fiercehearted: Live Fully, Love Bravely. To make sure you don’t miss any news about the book (Holley will be announcing something incredibly fun next week!), you can subscribe to her emails by clicking here.

When It Looks Like Your Dream Has Kicked The Bucket

April 3, 2017 By Holley Gerth 3 Comments

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

1 Corinthians 3:7

I have a confession: I am a plant assassin. Yes, ma’am. If there’s a plant in your life you would like to die, just give it to me, and I will have it taken care of in no time.

In spite of that, last summer I did a very brave thing. I bought a tomato plant. To understand why that’s an act of courage, let me share my history of plants with you one more time. Don’t worry, we’ve already covered most of it, and I can sum it all up in three little words:

I kill them.

Every few years I decide to change my wicked, plant-hit-woman ways. I wander into a store for completely unrelated reasons and there they are . . . rows of promising little pots just begging to be taken home (well, in my case they are probably hollering for me to leave them there).

This year I yielded to temptation and picked up a cherry tomato plant.

I put it in the sunshine.

I watered it.

Sometimes I forgot.

Then I went out of town.

I came home and my little plant had turned the color of crispy French fries. “Too bad,” I said to myself. “Another one bites the dust.” I felt a bit disappointed because this time I really tried. I watered that thing. I put it in the sun. I even talked to it and told it what a good little plant it was.

I strolled across the yard with sorrow in my southern heart. But when I got to that plant, I stopped right in my tracks.

Lo and behold, two bright red tomatoes smiled up at me.

I clapped my hands. Not only had my crispy plant managed to survive, it had just grown my very first tomatoes.

I carried those tomatoes into the house and showed my husband. I took pictures of them. I put them on Facebook.

My little dream had somehow managed to come true in spite of my shortcomings.

That’s often how it works. We set out with good intentions. Then life interferes, we forget to water, we go out of town, and we think the dream is surely done. But all the while God is still working in mysterious ways beyond our understanding.

God is still working in mysterious ways beyond our understanding.

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If you have a dream that looks like crispy French fries in the sun, don’t give up yet. Because you just never know. Sometimes when we least expect it, when we don’t deserve it, when we can hardly believe it . . . everything changes.

My little plant has two more tomatoes on it. They’re still green, and I’m watching, waiting, seeing the “impossible” grow before my eyes.

Yes, we are to try our best to “water” and persevere in what we do with our dreams. But at some point, we will fail. Instead of giving up, we can rely on God to make things grow in spite of us.

If your dream has gotten a little wilted, don’t give up yet.

Look for growth and get back to work on it.

You never know when the best is yet to be.

XOXO

Shared by: Holley Gerth

p.s. Would you like more encouragement for your God-sized Dreams? Holley’s books You’re Made for a God-sized Dream and Opening the Door to Your God-sized Dream can help!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Gifts of “Failure” and Looking Foolish & A Giveaway!

December 21, 2016 By Holley Gerth 26 Comments

I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.

2 Samuel 6:22

The coffee shop is quiet except for the sound of voices at the table across from me, and I can’t help but overhear.

An older man says, “Most people think failure is here.” He taps one edge of the table. “And that success is here.” He taps the opposite edge. Then he places both of his hands in the center of the table. “But failure and success are really here. Side by side.”

The young man he’s talking to nods and the mentor continues, “Don’t try to avoid failure completely. Or you’ll never be successful.”

His words ring in my ears and my heart as I take another sip of coffee.

Every time I get ready to try something new I hear the question, “What if it doesn’t work?” And the answer is, of course, “I’ll look like a fool.” Over time I’ve come to believe this: that’s not a good enough reason not to do it.

Sometimes looking like a fool comes with the territory of God-sized dreams.

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Noah built an ark.

Moses wandered in the desert.

Jesus hung on the cross.

And those who watched shook their heads and muttered words like “failure” and “fool.”

Little did they know.

Is that you today?

Have you stepped out in faith and wondered why you feel like a fool?

Have you come across failure like a roadblock in your path?

Keep going, friend.

Instead of fleeing from the feeling of being foolish, lean into it. King David did this when the Ark of God entered Jerusalem. He danced in joy with lots of abandon and little clothing in front of the people. His wife scolded him for what she saw as inappropriate behavior for a person of his position. I love his response: “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.” Where most of us would apologize and try to defend ourselves, David essentially says: “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” He realizes that defending his honor is not his job and that God gets the most glory when we humble ourselves.

If you’re not willing to look goofy in the eyes of others at some point, you will never make it to your God-sized dream.

And what seems like your most foolish moments may turn out to be your wisest. As Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

It turns out when you feel lowest, you may actually be standing on higher ground than you can even know.

From that unexpected place, you’ll be able to see what true success means.

Feel it.

Know it.

Reach out and touch its nail-scarred hands.

Don’t give up. Or give in. Or compromise. Or quit.

You’re going to make it.

And it’s going to make you…

not into a fool,

not into a failure,

but into a victorious follower.

XOXO

Shared by: Holley Gerth

p.s. Would you like more encouragement for your God-sized Dreams? Holley’s books You’re Made for a God-sized Dream and Opening the Door to Your God-sized Dream can help!

We want to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas by doing a fun giveaway!

Leave us a comment below of your favorite holiday tradition or a dream you plan on jump starting in the New Year, and we will randomly choose ONE winner on Monday Dec 26th.

We are giving away a 2017 planner to keep you organized and moving forward in your dreams. A “Life is Beautiful” journal for all those random thoughts or doodles, and a 13×13 print that says, “Don’t wake the dreamer.” Thanks for joining us on the God-sized Dreams journey. We pray you have a merry and bright Christmas!

You Can Go Outside Your Comfort Zone & The #DreamTogether Linkup

September 19, 2016 By Holley Gerth 2 Comments

The following is an exclusive excerpt from Holley’s newest devotional, Do You Know You’re Already Amazing?

“I have to stay inside my comfort zone.”—Pam
“I can go wherever God calls me.”—Rebekah (read Gen. 24)

The email pops into Pam’s inbox, and the subject line jumps out at her: “Job Offer.” It’s the response she’s been waiting to receive. Her hand shakes a bit as she clicks to open it. “We would love to have you join our team,” she reads, and a smile crosses her face. “But we’ll need you to relocate so you can be closer to our home office.”

Suddenly her elation is replaced by fear. She’s lived in the same town her entire life. She learned to ride her bike on the sidewalks of Main Street. She knows exactly where to find her favorite flavor of ice cream at the store. Her parents still welcome her back to her childhood home every Sunday evening.

Yet over the last few months she’s felt a growing sense it’s time to stretch her wings. Numerous friends and even her family have encouraged her to do so. And when she’s prayed about the future, she’s sensed God leading her in a new direction. She applied for her dream job but never thought she’d get it. Now it’s hers for the taking if only she can find the courage to step outside her comfort zone. She takes a deep breath and before she can think twice about it, she clicks Delete.

Before email brought news to inboxes, it often arrived at the town well. As Rebekah makes her way toward it, she wonders what she’ll find out or who she’ll meet today. Her thoughts are interrupted by a polite request from a stranger. “Please give me a little water from your jar” (Gen. 24:17). Her family has taught her to value hospitality, and she quickly gives the man water, then offers to do the same for his camels.

Little does Rebekah know she has just opened the door to an extraordinary adventure.

The man is a servant who has been sent to find a wife for his master Abraham’s son. The servant has just finished praying, “May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master” (Gen. 24:14).

What follows is a whirlwind. The servant goes to the home of Rebekah’s family and shares how God is at work. Then he requests for Rebekah to return with him immediately to become the wife of Isaac. Her family responds, “‘Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.’ So they called Rebekah and asked her, ‘Will you go with this man?’” (Gen. 24:57–58). It’s a life-changing moment of decision.

Like Pam, Rebekah had spent her whole life in one place. She still lived in her father’s home. She likely had never ventured farther than the borders of her town. Yet she replies simply and powerfully, “I will go” (Gen. 24:57). Her brave act of obedience alters the course of her life, lands her in the lineage of the Messiah, and begins a great love story (Gen. 24:62–67).

If we always stick to what seems safest and most familiar, we risk missing out on what God has planned for us.

Instead we can simply pray, “God, I’m open to whatever you have for me today. Even if what I face is unknown, I know you. I trust you to take care of me wherever you call me to go.”

We serve a limitless God who invites us to move beyond what has confined and defined us.

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Leaving our comfort zone may mean an actual change in location, like it did for Pam and Rebekah. But it can also happen right where we are each day. It might look like reaching out to others who are different than us. Learning something new. Pursuing a dream. We like to put limits on our lives, but we serve a limitless God who invites us to move beyond what has confined and defined us.

The best place to be is not our comfort zone. It’s the center of God’s will.

XOXO

Shared by: Holley Gerth

p.s. If you’re looking for Biblical encouragement and a reminder that God made you {and you’re amazing!}, Holley’s 30 Day Devotional will surely bless you. It releases tomorrow but you can preorder it on Holley’s site or watch the book trailer!

An InLinkz Link-up

Why It’s Okay If You’re Scared Silly

July 6, 2016 By Holley Gerth 1 Comment

See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Deuteronomy 1:21

A surprising secret: fear is often more likely confirmation to move forward than a reason to turn back on the path to our God-sized dreams.

Here’s why: God wired our brains with a beautiful part called the amygdala—it controls our flight or fight response. Most of the time it works really well. For example, we instantly notice and react to the bear charging out of the woods at us.

And this is where it plays into fear being a confirmation: the amygdala likes the status quo. It sees change, especially if it means stepping out of our comfort zone, as a threat because it’s unfamiliar. Therefore it registers those things as something that needs a “flight or fight response” initially.

In Scripture, when God says, “Do not fear,” it is almost always to someone already feeling fear. He helps us get past that first response and move from fear to faith. But that first fear response is often an indicator that God is asking us to step out of our comfort zone. That’s why it can be part of a confirmation that He’s asking us to do something.

Your fear is not a reason to be ashamed.

Everyone feels afraid when they decide to pursue a God-sized dream.

I’ve had the privilege of walking beside thousands of women on the path to their God-sized dreams. No matter their age, location, or lifestyle, they have this in common: at some point they’re scared silly. It doesn’t matter if they’re already a bestselling author or putting the first words ever on a page, fear still comes calling. It’s no respecter of persons.

We believe a myth that goes like this: if that woman I see is successful, then she must not struggle with fear. So we hold back because we believe we have to stop being afraid before we move forward. And we certainly don’t admit to anyone else that we’re terrified of what may happen. But trust me on this, sisters: we’re all in this together.

Just this morning I stared at the computer screen and felt the familiar prickle at the back of my neck that said, “If you try that, something terrible will happen.” Thankfully, I’ve been at this long enough now to realize that fear is quite the exaggerator. I can brush off those feelings a bit more easily than when I first began, but they’re still present.

When psychologists want to help a client overcome a phobia, one of the most effective treatments is exposure therapy. Little by little, bit by bit, they safely enable the client to confront what frightens them. Each time that happens, the client’s brain (specifically, the amygdala) learns to lower the threat alert level for that particular thing. It’s the same way with us. We can’t talk ourselves out of fear. We just have to take steps of faith so that we can see we really are going to be okay. Then our brain gets on board and the “sound the alarm” sensation of fear gets quieter over time.

God understands your fear. He doesn’t condemn you for it or tell you to snap out of it. Instead He takes you by the hand and speaks to your heart words of courage, love, and grace. Lean in and listen to His voice until it’s louder than the fear.

Lean in and listen to God’s voice until it’s louder than the fear.

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You can pursue your God-sized dream with Him by your side—even if you’re afraid.

XOXO

Shared by: Holley Gerth

p.s. Would you like more encouragement for your God-sized Dreams? Holley’s books You’re Made for a God-sized Dream and Opening the Door to Your God-sized Dream can help!

What To Do While You’re Waiting On Your Dreams

May 2, 2016 By Holley Gerth 1 Comment

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

When we start pursuing a dream, we have a timeline in mind. We may even pull out a calendar and circle the due date. We imagine what it will be like to finally live in our new reality. Then our deadline comes and goes, and we’re still waiting.

Huh.

What now?

My husband and I experienced this when we decided to have children. We wanted to start a family right away, but God had other plans. In the process God has transformed that original dream of having physical children into new and unexpected hopes and plans in our lives. But I don’t think that would have been possible if we hadn’t discovered a few things about waiting well.

Get wise advice. As I mentioned above, I’ve spent a lot of time waiting in the last few years. And I keep hoping God will start using email. Then I’ll just get up every morning, and his agenda will be sitting in my inbox. While that hasn’t happened yet, I have noticed that words from wise people in my life (through email or otherwise) often do lead me to the answer God has for me. Don’t be afraid to ask others for their perspective. “Victory is won through many advisers” (Prov. 11:14).

Pay attention to the details. I’m a big-picture kind of girl. I think God should do the whole “handwriting on the wall” thing more often, don’t you? But it seems uncovering his will is often more like connect-the-dots. So when I’m in seasons of waiting, I journal more. I write down every little thing that I think he’s saying to me. Over time, a pattern often emerges that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It’s often the little things that lead us to the big ones.

Don’t put the rest of your life on hold. When I’m waiting on God in one area, sometimes I come to a screeching halt in every area of my life. But it’s hard to steer a parked car. Sometimes we find what we’re waiting on along the way—not when we stay. I love how Isaiah 40:31 says those who wait on the Lord will run and not grow weary and walk and not faint. There can still be a lot of movement going on during the waiting.

Forget the fear. Sometimes we think we’re “waiting on God” when really we’re just waiting for the fear to go away. Here’s a hint: it won’t. The enemy will tell you that courage means the absence of fear as you move ahead. It doesn’t.

Faith means feeling the fear and moving ahead into God’s will anyway.

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Be grateful for where you are. Oh, friend, I’m t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e at this one. Yep. I like to move on to the next thing. I look ahead and forget to enjoy and appreciate where I am today. Sometimes I need to stop and remember that I’m living today in the answered prayers of yesterday. And that is reason to say a big ol’ “thank you” a lot more often than I do.

God’s timing is not like ours. Sometimes we face delays and detours we never expected. While those can be discouraging, they can also lead to gifts along the way we never would have discovered otherwise.

When it comes to our God-sized dreams, we may not know when we will arrive—but we can always be sure God will be by our side giving us what our hearts really need. Today. Tomorrow. Forever.

XOXO

Shared by: Holley Gerth

p.s. Would you like more encouragement for your God-sized Dreams? Holley’s books You’re Made for a God-sized Dream and Opening the Door to Your God-sized Dream can help!

Only a few more days to buy a T-shirt from our Spring sale! Don’t miss out! Are you a Dream Chaser? Or love the reminder that a “Dreamers Gonna Dream?” Available in a variety of styles and colors; would make a great Mother’s Day gift for a God-sized Dreaming momma!

Click here for ==> Dreamers Gonna Dream

Click here for ==> Dream Chaser

Becoming All God Created You To Be—One Dream At A Time

March 2, 2016 By Holley Gerth 1 Comment

Dreams can help us discover God’s purpose for our lives.

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They can stretch and grow us into all we’re created to be. They can also stir up doubts and questions.

When I talk with people about their dreams and they ask, “But how do I know this is from God?” I usually point them to Romans 12:2, which says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

In this verse, Paul tells us we are to “test and approve” God’s will. In other words, we’ve gotta try stuff. We don’t usually like that approach. It’s scary. We might mess up. We could get it wrong. And yet that is the only way for us to really know God’s will—by experiencing it.

The precursor to that process is to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. In other words, to be committed to seeing our lives from God’s perspective. We do that first by being in his Word on a regular basis. The Bible is not a static text but rather is “alive and active” (Heb. 4:12) so God can use it to show us what we need for our daily lives.

If our dream means pursuing a new opportunity, we can also ask ourselves a series of questions that help us determine whether or not it’s likely to be from God.

These ten questions can be helpful when evaluating a decision or dream:

Does this fit with my strengths?
Does this fit with my skills?
Have my life experiences prepared me for it?
What do the people I trust most say about it?
Do I feel an inner tug or “leading” from God to do it?
Does the opportunity line up with Scripture and what I understand to be God’s purpose for me?
Are there any possible “phantom reasons” that could be tempting me to say yes when God wants me to say no (e.g., fear, guilt, a desire to please people)?
If I say yes, what will it mean saying no to?
If I say no, what will it mean saying yes to?
When I look back in ten years, will this be a story I want to share?

After evaluating and praying, it’s time to “test and approve.” In other words, you move forward with what God has asked you to do to the best of your knowledge. You stay closely connected to Him in the process, and as you go, you adjust. If you make a mistake, you learn from it. If you clearly see His hand in something, you do more of it. God will make sure we get where He wants us to end up. Our role is simply to be willing to take the next step. We learn and grow as we go. Here’s the secret that can reassure our wandering, wondering hearts…

Dreams aren’t about the destination; they’re about transformation.

XOXO

Holley Gerth

This post is adapted from the new You’re Already Amazing LifeGrowth Guide by Holley Gerth. If you want to embrace who you are, become all God created you to be and live intentionally then the Guide is for you. Find out more here.

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p.s. This week we launched our God-sized Dreams shop! It contains five downloadable prints created just for you. We hope they inspire you to chase after your dreams! We’d love for you to check them out!

For The Days When You’re Just Not Feeling It

December 11, 2015 By Holley Gerth 3 Comments

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

She sends me an email.

Or walks up to me at a conference.

Maybe whispers it across the table at lunch.

It starts with something like, “I know I’m called to write or speak or cook or do spreadsheets”—her voice gets lower here—“but what about the days when I’m just not feeling it?”

I nod. Because I know. Oh, how I know.

What I don’t know is how our culture has convinced us that any other skill is okay to practice, but if it’s spiritual or art or both, then you have to feel it every time.

I’m picturing an interviewer asking an elite athlete, “How often do you practice?” And the reply being, “When I feel like it.”

We don’t ever hear that from athletes at that level.

As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”

What do you do when you don’t feel it? You do it anyway.

It’s different if you don’t know what God wants you to do. But if you know that words, or food, or corporate work is your thing, then you do it. Over and over again.

That’s stewardship—which really just means taking good care of what you’ve been given and making the most of it.

So if guilt has been chasing you around and yelling in your ear about how you can’t do something unless you really feel it, then it’s time to kick guilt to the curb.

Then do your dream.

Do it today.

Do it tomorrow.

Do it for the rest of your life.

Your God-sized dream is just as much about perspiration as inspiration.(<====Click To Tweet) In the early stages, when we’re filled with enthusiasm and passion, it’s easy to take action. But at some point that will begin to subside or life will get busy or the dog will eat our business plan. And we will begin to think, “Maybe I’ll do something else.”

Yet there is no such thing as a God-sized dream that doesn’t have seasons that are just plain ol’ hard, unglamorous work. When we persevere through those times, we honor God, because that is when we’re dying to ourselves. We’re saying, “I will obey even when all my flesh wants to do is sit in the corner and eat a cookie.” When you choose to be disciplined in the pursuit of your dream, even when you don’t want to, you do a lot to destroy the work of the enemy. And even though it doesn’t feel like it, your faith is probably even stronger than when you have all the warm, fuzzy emotions that we like a lot better.

So keep going, friend.

You’re doing better than you know.

You’re growing more than you realize.

You’re making a difference even if you can’t feel it.

And someday soon, you will.

XOXO

Shared by: Holley Gerth

p.s. Would you like more encouragement for your God-sized Dreams? Holley’s books You’re Made for a God-sized Dream and Opening the Door to Your God-sized Dream can help!

Help When We Want to Compare

October 12, 2015 By Holley Gerth 2 Comments

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.

Galatians 6:4

Every little girl grows up dreaming about living in a castle. So as I flip through television channels and discover a home tour in a renovated castle, I pause for a moment. It’s gorgeous—high walls, timeless floors, winding staircases. The hostess explains that a local architect and his wife have brought new life to this old place. The wife nods and then replies, “Would you like to see a picture of it before we began?”

What she shows the camera next almost jolts me out of my seat. It’s nothing but ruins. No roof. No windows. Just jagged pieces of wall stretching into the sky.

I shake my head in wonder. How did they even have a vision for what that place could be?

Just seconds ago I thought, It would be really cool to live in a place like that someday. Now I take it all back. No way would I be willing to do that much work. I landed on the “happily ever after” part of that castle’s story and completely missed how arduous the process had been to get there.

It’s easy to do the same with the God-sized dreams of others. I look at an area of another woman’s life that I admire—maybe a talent, skill, strength or desire that has come true—and I think, It would be really cool to live in a place like that someday.

But I don’t see the whole picture. I don’t know how much renovation happened in her life to get her there. I don’t have the backstory that shows God gets all the glory. I haven’t counted the tears or uncovered the cost along the way.

Michael Hyatt shared, “Never compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”

I’d take it one step beyond that and say, “Never compare your middle to someone else’s happy ending.”

Never compare your middle to someone else’s happy ending.

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If we’re longing for someone else’s “castle,” we’re also asking for all the effort, energy, and emotion it took for that to be built in their lives. Do we really know what we’re asking for?

Writer Kathryn Stockett received sixty rejection letters before a publisher accepted The Help, which became a runaway bestseller and popular movie.

Olympic athletes train in obscurity and make significant sacrifices just for one shot at seeing their dream come true.

The apostle Paul experienced being beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and more in order to fulfill his calling.

By the time the television segment on that renovated castle finished, I felt ready to kiss my carpet.

I had a new appreciation for my realities.

So next time we see the “castle” of a God-sized dream in someone else’s life, let’s close our eyes for a moment and try to imagine not just what could be but what may have already been. And then take a moment to thank God for being wise enough not to give us everything we think we want—and all that comes with it.

XOXO

Holley Gerth

P.S. Would you like more encouragement for your God-sized Dreams? Holley’s books You’re Made for a God-sized Dream and Opening the Door to Your God-sized Dream can help!