By Carolyn Castleberry
Let’s be honest. You’ve thought about it. Of course you have; who hasn’t? Whenever someone mentions the future an image pops into your mind unexpectedly. From starting your own family to starting your own business. Whatever your dream — the future dips and sways on the edge of your mind, exciting and energizing. Oh… but then reality sets in, the negative thoughts begin and before you know it, that dream of yours is once again stashed away in a tightly locked drawer of your heart.
For many years, I hosted a kids’ talk show in Virginia, and I had the opportunity to speak to lots of students both in and away from the studio. On the subject of deciding what they wanted to do with their lives, I always counseled them to do the thing that scared them. Don’t settle! Do the thing you’ve always wanted to do but were afraid to because it seemed too big for you.
It requires you first to take a step in that direction. Just one step. No matter how you feel or what your friends say can or can’t be accomplished — just one baby step.
Can you imagine how Moses felt when he encountered a talking, burning bush telling him to go and free God’s people in Egypt? Moses responded as most of us would, with doubt and incredulity.
But Moses said, “They won’t believe me! They won’t do what I tell them to. They’ll say, “Jehovah never appeared to you!”
“What do you have there in your hand?” The Lord asked him. And he replied, “A shepherd’s rod.”
“Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him.
So he threw it down — and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it!
Then the Lord told him, “Grab it by the tail!” He did, and it became a rod in his hand again. [Exodus 4:1-4, tlb]
Okay, stop here. Sure, Moses continued on with his self doubt, saying he wasn’t a strong speaker. Sure, God was getting a bit impatient with Moses. But give the guy some credit! He grabbed the serpent by the tail! Moses could have kept running. He didn’t have to reach down his hand and obey. The thought of grabbing a serpent by the tail terrifies me, especially if a burning bush was telling me to do so. But Moses took that step. Then another step. And another. Before he knew it he was crossing the Red Sea in one of the most amazing miracles ever.
Your very first step will be the scariest, but then it begins to get easier. And once you take that first step, God will entrust you with more and more.
I’ll never forget taking the first step to become a real estate investor. Okay, I know it’s no burning-bush, snake-handling experience, but for me it was terrifying. I trembled while signing the first contract. In the car I prayed, “Oh Lord, what have I just done?” He replied, “Something.” I’d just done something — something that would eventually help buy my freedom from being a wage slave. It was the first step and it was the hardest, but it qualified and prepared me for more. Jesus says, He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much… [Luke 16:10 NASB] That means one baby step on your part. Then another… then another… then another.
Before long you’ll be running toward your goal and loving every moment of it. Even God created His most cherished investment — us — one step at a time. There’s no one exactly like you anywhere on this earth. Never has been. You’re unique, extraordinary, and matchless in His eyes. David understood this well, and he acknowledged it to God:
You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. [Psalm 139:13-14, niv]
God loved creating you on step at a time! He enjoyed being the first Artist and Architect. What kind of mind could possibly create and form such wonderful and complex animals, plants, and human beings!
I get the feeling He savored every moment of those first six days played out in Genesis. When is the last time you created something, large or small, and when it was finished you said, “Now, that’s good!” When is the last time you poured passion into your work, crafting and caring about every detail? When is the last time you were completely spent because of the energy you expended in bringing something new into this world? Today is that new day, my friend, to remember what you love and take one baby step toward it.
Speaking of stepping, let’s talk about my step class for a moment. I love to do step classes at our local YMCA. It’s a cardiovascular class requiring much concentration, not to mention coordination, to follow the teacher’s routine. Here God is patient and persistent in showing me how easily distracted I can become. Worry sidelines me; and in the past, people have easily gotten me off track the moment I take my eyes off God.
One day, another lady came into this class late and set up her step in front of me. I allowed myself to get totally distracted by her, and I ended up completely out of step. It took me several minutes to get back into the rhythm of the class.
In the class on another day, an older man came into the room and began shifting through the equipment looking for weights. My attention went from the teacher to the intruder, and once again I was totally distracted, off-beat, and off-balance. Thankfully, God’s message hit me instead of the floor: I suddenly realized God was even with me in step class, and He was trying to penetrate my thick skull by showing me how easily distractible I was. It wasn’t the other people’s fault; it was mine. With my attention off the teacher, I couldn’t do anything.
In my mind, I said, “Okay God, I think I get your point. The next person who comes in won’t throw me off balance, because I won’t take my eyes off the teacher and let my concentration be broken.”
Then another guy came into the room looking for weights. This time I kept my eyes ahead and my focus on the steps. By the grace of God, I wasn’t distracted, I stayed in step, and He and I silently rejoiced together.
What a significant analogy for life. I started noticing when people and my own fears and worries were throwing me out of step with God’s plan. It happened when I took my eyes off my supreme Teacher, God, and directed my focus elsewhere.
Walking with God on a daily basis is another story. You’ll be tempted, tested, and frustrated, and there will be days when obedience to Him is the last thing on your mind. It takes a daily decision to commit our lives and our work to the Lord and to walk in His ways, but the benefits are incomparable:
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. [Psalm 1:1-3 NASB]
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. [Proverbs 3:5-6]
Next, we must accept God’s answers and direction and breathe in His goodness and wisdom. Just as parents know what’s best for their children, God knows and does what’s best for us:
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! [Matthew 7:11 NASB]
Commit your work to the One who knows you and loves you more than anyone else. Don’t be afraid; you’re in strong and capable hands as you are walking toward your new future.
Nowhere does the Lord promise that we’ll all be millionaires; we will succeed only according to His will for our lives. That’s a sure thing. And when the day comes that you’re successful, when your life is cruising along beyond your loftiest expectations, don’t ever disregard God. Praise Him and don’t forget to thank Him — a failure which happens all too often:
While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed.
Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.
Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine — where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” [Luke 17:11-18 NASB]
Can you believe it? Ten men healed of a horrible, skin-eating disease, and only one turned back to express gratitude. Don’t you just hate it when you take time to do something nice for someone and they don’t even say thanks? If we’re hurt by this, can you imagine how God feels as He reaches out His hands to us everyday and we forget to thank Him?
With thanksgiving, bring your requests before God, and then you’ll experience His peace. God loves a grateful heart. You might say it’s hard to be thankful when you have nothing, but for just a moment, think about everything you do have. Do you have a roof over your head? That’s more than some people. Do you have a mind full of creative ideas?
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. [1 Timothy 4:4 NASB]
Learn to be that one-person-in-ten who thinks enough of God to look to Him and say, “Thank You!”
Many of us turn to God in hard times; but learn to be one of those few who also turn to Him in prosperity and success. God wants to know He can trust you with true riches, spiritual riches; so now is the time to take the first step. Start small to create something you love. Step through that fear and you will be on the way to the incredible future that God always intended for you. And, oh by the way, thank you Lord for the ability to keep taking just one baby step at a time.
This article is revised from Carolyn’s book, Women, Take Charge of Your Money: A Biblical Path to Financial Security Copyright 2006 Multnomah Publishers, Inc. Used by permission.
Carolyn Castleberry is a Telly Award-winning co-host with the Christian Broadcasting Network and one of the hosts of “Living the Life.” (www.livingthelife.com) She hosted a national radio talk show for female executives on the Business Radio Network and holds an M.A. in government and two bachelor of science degrees in business and journalism. Carolyn lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with her husband, two daughters, and stepson.
