Dress for the Wedding!

I'm wondering if any of you think I'm talking about my dress for my wedding? haha, I just realized that it kind of sounds like that! No, I'm not getting married! I wanted to share some notes on Steven Furtick's message, Dress for the Wedding. You can watch it at elevationchurch.org. He's an incredible speaker!!

-The nature of a vision: you must perceive it, not see it.
-God revealed everything to Noah in stages. "His Word is a light unto our path, not a floodlight to show the whole plan." We must take each little step in obedience.
-Lifecycle of a vision: God saw. God said. Noah did.
-In order to do as God says, we must see as God sees!

(Ok, I was trying to write this part word for word because it is so awesome!)

Have you ever been dressed to the T, ready to go somewhere like a wedding, and you realize when you get into the car that you need gas? So you pull into the gas station, you start pumpin' your gas, you're all dressed up, and you look around at what everyone else is wearing. You feel pretty stupid. You feel like you need to explain to everyone around you why you are dressed this way at a gas station, even if no one is asking! The reason you don't fit in is because you aren't dressed for where you are, you're dressed for where you are going. (DANG!)
We need to start "dressing" for where God wants to take us. You don't need to apologize or explain to the people around you why you are so different. You're just at the gas station- you won't be hangin around there for the rest of your life. Once you get where you're going, you'll fit right in!!

-Don't build your life for where you are. Build your life for where God wants to take you.
-You'll be stuck if you don't outfit your ambitions for where God wants you to be.
-Noah was building an ark when no body had EVER seen rain! He wasn't focusing on the now- he had a vision from God. The difference between a day dream and a vision is the audacity to act.

That sermon spoke to me so much! Not that I'm in a dinky, gas station place right now in my life. He just encouraged me to keep looking ahead! I must see as God sees if I want to obey what God says.
I love when he gets really passionate about certain people, and he is very passionate about youth. He goes off on talking to the young people and says to not get frustrated or embarassed when other kids make fun of you for still being a virgin, or for not partying. You are dressed for the wedding- you are dressed for something much greater! You won't be at the gas station, but they'll probably be working there for the rest of their lives!

It's so easy, for me, to get discouraged when all of my friends are away at college. I often run into parents or other people that I haven't seen since high school, and there's always that question: "So what are you doing now? How's school?" And some are not so enthusiastic about my response. They kind of give me the, "Oohhh, really? Well, that's nice," response- which hurts coming from some people.

But I don't have to be intimidated or embarassed about where God has me right now-- I have a calling on my life, and I'm going to change my world for the better. My goal is not pleasing man, for if it were, I would not be living this peculiar life! I definitely would not still be in my hometown. I mean, it IS the beach, but I would much rather be somewhere that people don't know me or my past or my family. That would be easy. That would be much less challenging. But that's not God. God wants to use me, challenge me, test me, bless me, form me, shape me. And I strongly believe that He wants to use my background and the past knowledge of me to tear down misconceptions and to change the lives of those who have known me best and known me the longest. I am not the same person! I know that my career path will disturb some who want to see me be "successful" or "realistic". I love the quote from Mother Theresa: "Do not worry about your career. Concern yourselves with your vocation...and that is to be lovers of Jesus."
I'm on a road that many have gone before me, but few approve of. There is no greater desire in my life than to love my Jesus, my Father, and to be willingly obedient to whatever He tells me to do. That is the career I choose. That is what I'm dressed for. To be the obedient daughter, the apple of His eye, and for Him to be the Love of my life and the only thing I live for.