Rachel Barrentine

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Uphill Hopes

(Photo: David Bender)

I attended the Global Leadership Summit a couple weeks ago. One of my favorite speakers and thought leaders is John Maxwell. He said this,

 

"Everything worthwhile is uphill. Most people have uphill hopes, but downhill habits."

 

Dang. So true.

 

In recent years God has been leading me toward book writing. I've always been the 3.5 minute song girl. But books? That's a whole different deal. I wrote a devotional book a couple years ago. It was a stretch. It was an uphill dream I never had. I argued with God at first. I was determined to let him know I don't write books. He was obviously misinformed.

 

But in that uphill process, I discovered I really want to write books. How did God know that? It was a deep-seated dream I never knew I had. I also discovered that books don't write themselves. It takes discipline, time, research, quiet, less Netflix. Ugh. I love Netflix.

 

Sometimes we have to agree to go uphill before God can birth a new dream in us.

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Anything worth doing, anything that really matters in this life, anything that generates ripples into eternity, is uphill. It's worth the energy. It's worth the push. It's worth the love, sweat, and tears.

 

One of my favorite #spiritualnuggets is this:

Choose the path of greatest dependence, not the path of least resistance.

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Least resistance is downhill. Anybody can do it. It's easy and comfortable. But God hasn't called us to comfortable has He? The cross wasn't comfortable. Mary watching her Son die wasn't comfortable. The single most uphill moment in history, the crucifixion, reversed the curse of sin on mankind. It literally changed everything about the world we live in today.

 

It's interesting that Jesus died on a hill. He carried His cross up the hill. And then He calls us to take up our cross and follow Him. I guess that means we're destined for uphill.

 

What hill is God leading you to? What step out of your comfort zone are you going to take? What kind of habits are you walking in? What's the God-sized, uphill, passion He has put inside you?

 

Go. For. It.

 

Step by step on our journey, the Lord strengthens, empowers, and gives us every resource we need.

 

Phil 4:13 says,

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

 

Have a meaningful, uphill week!

 

Joyfully,

Rachel B.