Am I Making Myself Insignificant?

It all started months ago with this quote I read quoted by Nelson Mandela:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Nelson Mandela

I absolutely love this quote! It inspires me but you know what? It just hit me and I do mean it just truly hit me like a ton of bricks! I want success and I want to fulfill my purpose in life, and I want to be somebody to make a difference in this world to be a light unto many…But when the going get tough, the tough makes Amy want to say forget it. HA, talk about a coward, how do you like them cookies?

Oh but it gets better! I started thinking about some of the individuals through history, through life that have inspired me and this is what I started to realize:

1. Jesus- He was on Earth for a purpose, to die for the sins of a world that truly did not deserve it. In order to reach this world before his death (and mind you, he knew that was his purpose his destiny to die so that others may live, try those shoes on for size) he had to find and recruit Apostles that would help him on his journey to fulfilling this purpose. Note: I don’t know about you but I don’t think I could or would want to fulfill that purpose but he did.
2. Nelson Mandela- That man WOW amazing (not that Jesus isn’t amazing-just more of in the present, my time). Kind of reminds me of the Apostle Paul and his imprisonment. Do you realize that Nelson Mandela was in prison for over 30 years, lost his wife, lost his family? I mean his daughter quit talking to him because he REFUSED to give up on what he believed. Like Jesus, he held no ill will towards those that persecuted him, no hate towards those who ripped his life apart. When he was released and finally became President, you would think that those who took his freedom away would in some way pay for what they had done, right? NO! He refused to let hate and ignorance destroy what he was trying to accomplish. Note: That is a human being that like Jesus is bigger than me because I know I am human so truly imperfect! God would most definitely have to do a miracle in me, in order for me not harbor anger and I know I definitely would not make it no 30 years in prison, FORGET IT! Purpose abandoned.
3. Martin Luther King- He had DREAM, a dream bigger than him, a dream that would change our world as our Grandparents and their parent and their parent would know it. He reminds me of Moses, you know, “Set my people free.” Moses had a purpose to fulfill and that was to set God’s people free (in his case the Israelites). Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way as Moses, his purpose was to set God’s people free.

Dr. King endured so much like Jesus, Moses, Mr. Mandella, and so many others. They endured, they overcame, they conquered and fought and died fighting for what they believed in. They lost so much. They were attacked, persecuted, tried, condemned fighting for what they knew to be right, to fulfill a purpose so much bigger than themselves. Pushing on no matter what was put in front of them. Fueled by passion, fire and drive to see their purpose through to the end, and then there’s me! When the going get tough…Amy has her foot out the door. I thank God (and so should you) that a world surviving does not depend on me!

Point: I have a purpose to fulfill, a vision of where the Lord wants me to be, what he wants me to accomplish and what it’s going to look like when it’s done. My purpose? To be a light unto many. How? By helping families heal, especially single mothers and teens by educating them on how to take control of their money instead of someone else controlling it for them. To empower them to believe in themselves, to dream again, to aspire to be more than they are right now, and to show them how they can not only help themselves and their families  but how they to can help other to do same. So, how is it that I would somehow think that things would be easy? How is it that I would think that my journey to fulfilling my purpose would be any easier than theirs? If I want to touch the hearts of many, if I want to give others hope and a purpose they would want to fight for, what makes me any different than any of those who have gone before me to fulfill their purpose? I AM NOT! So, today…right now I stop being a coward, I stop letting fear determine what my direction will be, right now I fight for what I believe in and will remind myself to be ashamed of myself if I don’t believe in me like God believes in me! Ashamed that those three men could go before me willing to lose it all for what they believed in and I am too afraid of finding those who have a burning desire to fulfill their purpose.

So with that being said, I leave you with this:

What was isn’t.

What is won’t be.

What will be is up to YOU!

There is a choice you have to make, in everything you do. And you must always keep in mind the choice you make, makes you.

– Anonymous

<<This post was written by my beautiful wife, Amy>>