faith unfaded

Have you ever looked in a mirror and wondered, “Is this it? Is this all I was made for?”

Maybe you’re in a work-sleep-work again cycle. Maybe you’re stuck caring for so many other people you don’t have time to care for yourself. Maybe you saw your dreams of the future float away and you’re tired of trying to swim and catch up with them.

You know you were made for more.

It’s not too late to fulfill that purpose God has for you. It may seem impossible- where could another hour come from?!- but with God, nothing is impossible. (Luke 1:47)

I never saw a way out of the dead-end street I was on. The ship had long sailed with my dreams on board and I was ready for Him to take me home where I could get rest. I was overwhelmed, stressed, and bearing burdens that were never mine to carry in the first place. The day I surrendered it all to Him (not salvation, but surrender of my every thought and every ounce of control) He made a way out of no way. There was my boat, right in front of me, ready for me to climb aboard.

Not only were some of my old dreams there, but new ones too. Like a snake shedding its skin, my old life and destructive thought processes just fell off and a new life was born.

I had forgotten something I’d always known: I was made for more.

Josh Baldwin wrote “Made For More” after a personal struggle with anxiety, inspired by Isaiah 43:1: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

This week’s focus is take stock of your life. Are you tending a grave of your past mistakes and failures? Are you planting bulbs around your eventual grave instead of running free in a flower meadow? Are you so bound by your past that you’re robbing yourself of a future.

Each morning that you wake up this week, pretend you’re Lucy in 50 First Dates. You have no memory of yesterday. You just live each and every day to its fullest with no regard to yesterday or tomorrow. Find something of joy to celebrate each day.

Made for More, Josh Baldwin (2024)

I know who I am ’cause I know who You are
The cross of salvation was only the start
Now I am chosen, free and forgiven
I have a future and it’s worth the living
‘Cause I wasn’t made to be tending a grave
I was called by name
Born and raised back to life again
I was made for more
So why would I make a bed in my shame
When a fountain of grace is running my way
I know I am Yours
And I was made for more