When we are younger, we have these beautiful dreams of growing up and being someone important and doing important things. Our parents, teachers, and adults in our life, for the most part, don’t argue when we say we want to be a ballerina or a teacher or a lawyer or a doctor or ________. For me, I told my elementary teachers and principal that I was going to be a famous singer and would come back to do a concert for the school. We are born with hope and ambition and ideas of doing great things in the world. So what happens? Somewhere along our journey, the devil hacks away at one of the most important things in our lives by attacking our dreams. He takes our dreams, but His goal is to steal out hope.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen – Hebrews 11:1
If our hope is weak, then our faith is weak. If our faith is weak, then we have no desire to live out the life God has designed for us. If we don’t live that life, then the people we were supposed to reach stay lost. And if those people die lost, then they die not knowing God. And that’s the devil’s plan.
That was the path I was on. I lost hope in making a difference, in changing the world, and was fine with settling. But God wasn’t. Looking back, even when I began to settle, God was setting things up. He called me out of my stupor and into a life with hope and vision and expectation. But it was going to be hard. Giving up is easy. Giving up satisfies in the short run. Watching Netflix all night is a lot easier than cleaning the house. Having faith in the unseen is not easy. But the end goal is more than you could ever imagine.
Having hope and a strong faith requires making sacrifices, celebrating little victories, and always keeping the end goal in mind.
THE END GOAL
Many people believe that the end goal is the same thing as a dream. It’s not. A dream is a fantasy. There’s no substance to it. An End Goal is tangible. It’s acquirable.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize – 1 Corinthians 9:24
The end goal must always be in the fore front of your thoughts. It’s the driving force of decisions. It’s the focal point of all your efforts. If I have been called to go on the World Race, I must make it a priority in my life. Distraction is a huge weapon of the devil and derails so many lives through it. For me, I know I am supposed to be going on the World Race. And all my actions, choices, and steps from now until January are geared towards that goal.
MAKING SACRIFICES
Having an end goal and a vision means that, in the short term, you will have to sacrifice things. Luxury and convenience rarely coincide with working towards a goal. I’ve watched my bosses sacrifice time, sleep, and so much more to get to where they are. If your goal is to become a doctor, you’re going to have to dedicate years to studying and money to going to school. But the sacrifices are so worth it in the end. God’s end goal? To be reunited with His creation. God’s sacrifice? His son.
If I want to get to the World Race, I must sacrifice certain things. Some are obvious, like an entire year without an income and my family. But other are sacrifices I must make to get there. Like saving money for personal expenses and support for my family while I’m away. Like raising money to get myself and one bag on a plane to the World Race. Some sacrifices are easy and others are hard. But they must be made in order to achieve the end goal.
CELEBRATING LITTLE VICTORIES
We naturally celebrate life’s big accomplishments: graduating high school, getting a degree, getting married, retirement etc. But if we stop for a second, we can look back and see thousands of small victories that allowed us to reach that one accomplishment. How many tests do you have to pass in order to walk a stage for graduation? How many dates, discussions, special moments, and sacrifices does it take for a couple to get to the altar? How many late nights, weekend workdays, and presentations does it take for a person to be able to retire? You see it even in the Bible. Goliath wasn’t David’s first fight. There were many nights where he had to fight off animals who threatened the flock he shepherded. Ruth got married to Boaz, but before that she successfully took care of her mother-in-law day after day.
We must make it a habit to see God’s hand in the small things, not just the big victories. We celebrate every payment towards our mortgage and not just the last one. We celebrate every time our child doesn’t give up and not just the time they win. We must celebrate every time we wake up and smile. Because God is in the small moments. He’s in the details and the building blocks to our destiny. I am going to cheer and shout and cry the day I see that my World Race is completely funded. But until that day, I am going to celebrate every donation, whether it’s the change collected by a child or a donation from a church, because each penny is important. Each sacrifice by another is a victory in my community.
So set your end goal, making the necessary sacrifices, and celebrate the little victories along the way. I know I will because there’s a little girl in my past that believed I could do great things, and she was right.
