song: goodbye / believe by louisa wendorff
read time: 6 minutes
over the past couple months, my mind has been brewing with ideas. which, isn’t that big of a surprise, if you know me— but the ideas have been stirring a lot of change and movement in my life and current businesses. both wild hearts and third story are about to experience some big changes. in addition to that — i’m about to launch a new brand. (i promise, you won’t be kept in the dark long).
with new things on the horizon, i am constantly trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible. i’ve been obsessed with information and knowledge — from podcasts to books to webinars to conversations with people smarter than me — i’ve been soaking it all in.
because, at the end of the day — i know that the knowledge i already have can only take me so far. the knowledge i have, has brought me to where i am. but if i want to do more, be more, create more, see more — than i must expose myself to new thoughts, ideas, and concepts.
while i think it’s vital to be soaking up knowledge from everywhere and anywhere, i think that as earth-shakers, entrepreneurs, thinkers, and action takers — sometimes, we focus so much on the practicality of learning that we forget something that is even more imperative than all the practical actions steps that we take— involving God.
“by wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided and the clouds let drop the dew.” [proverbs 3:19-20]
i don’t know about you— but when i think about how the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, set heavens in place, and divided the deep waters — it makes me think “DAAAAANG! I WANT HIM ON MY TEAM!”
surely, if God planned out the entire universe and spoke it into place, if he created and divided the oceans, and made a way for rain to drop from the sky — then surely he can help you with your business idea (or lack of ideas).
he is a creative God who wants to help us with our dreams and endeavours. i mean, hello, creating was his idea– it’s his speciality.
with that in mind, if creating something from nothing is God’s heartbeat, then don’t you think he’s totally jazzed that you’re following in his footsteps and creating something? with that mindset, don’t you think God would be over the moon excited to help you create something that is strong, sustainable, and successful?
i think often (and i think this because i’ve been sooooo guilty of this) — that as doers and action takers we look at our to-do list and see that it’s going to require more hours than there are in the day. we internally freak out. create a daily to-do list. then start working. and totally bypass the whole involve God step and prayer part because it seems lofty and something “feel good” instead of practical. sound familiar? in essence, we try to do everything in our own strength, our own knowledge, and our own power. when, in reality, we’re not strong enough on our own to do anything that we set out to do. (sorry, to break that news to you!) in reality, the most important part of our day is involving the person who has all the wisdom, creativity, knowledge, and understanding to create the world we live in and divide the deep seas.
think of it like this— if steve jobs wanted to have a daily phone call with you to discuss your latest invention and give you some insight or if seth godin wanted to hop on a call to discuss marketing ideas with you — you wouldn’t miss that call, would you? you’d make sure that you were ready for that call, knowing that they’d have something that could be useful to making your idea flourish.
it’s the same with God.
God is the author and the originator of everything. every day, he’s ready, willing, and waiting to give you knowledge, creativity, understanding, and wisdom in order to build your proverbial empire. but you have to make time for Him, in the same way you would make time for a phone call with a steve jobs or seth godin.
okay, so here’s what i’m suggesting —
and, trust me, i’m speaking to myself here too!
make involving God into your business plans a priority, a top priority.
make time for God.
yes, soak up as much knowledge from the resources in front of you.
but also, learn to ask for three things from God:
wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.
because what you know, right now, on your own —will only take you so far. in order to create more, be more, experience more, and see more— you’re going to need the kind of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge that is outside of yourself. it was through these three things that the lord was able to create the world and everything in it. surely, gleaning a little of his wisdom, understanding, and knowledge will only be beneficial to the ideas rolling around in your head.
okay, so last but not least, be encouraged:
as you build, as you expand, as you create– God isn’t going to let you down.
“enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. for you wll spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess the nations and settle in their desolate cities. do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.” [isaiah 54:2-4]
that last part gets me every time— “do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated”
like, boom!
as you are working on creating something magnificent, don’t be fearful of failure fail. don’t be worried about whether people are going to like your creation or not— just do what you know you need to be doing. you are not going to be humiliated in your work.
so, i’m going to stop writing in a second and let you go back to your day —
i dare you — involve God in all your efforts. make it a priority to cover your business and dreams with prayer. dare to ask for wisdom, understanding, and knowledge as you embark on a journey to build something new.
God is going to be faithful to show up every time and give you what you need. he’ll give you the creativity to make your idea unique and relatable. he’ll give you the wisdom to build the infrastructure and strategy to make it strong. he’ll give you the understanding that you need in order to make it leave a lasting impression. and he’ll give you the knowledge no book could ever give you. he’ll be faithful to help you build something that is wilder than your imagination.
last but not least, don’t hold back. don’t tame your ideas because you aren’t sure if the world is ready for it or you are not sure if you’re strong enough to build out the concept. don’t settle for something smaller than what you want because you don’t want to fail. deep within you is courage to do all that you see in your heart, dig deep —pull out the courage and move in boldness. you’ve got what it takes.
