What If

WHAT IF?

What if you lived the perfect life? Would you be happier? Would you have a nicer car? A bigger house? Maybe you would dress better?

‘What if’s’ paralyze people. Those two words keep people stuck in self- imposed prison walls. Clothed in the fabric of excuses.

‘What if’ you were living the life that you were meant to live? ‘What if’ the people that exit your life unexpectedly are the ones that would wound your soul if they stayed? ‘What if’ the job you wanted so desperately would have worked out and you didn’t open your eyes to the new opportunities that propel you to use your God-given gifts?

‘What if’ you started to look at the gifts in your life rather than the lack; the ‘might-have-beens’?

I moved to Nashville from Chicago eleven years ago. I was asked to help plant a church BUT I was a well-known speaker and maybe, just maybe, I could be the best. Make the most money. Be on all the television stations and radio shows.

‘What if’ the economy had not come to a screeching halt in 2008 and I was still motivating people and getting standing ovations? Would I be happier? Have more? Be considered a success?

I sat back and looked at my life since the crash.

I sold my big house. I became more determined to live out my life in my purpose. Using the gifts the Creator purposefully planted in me. Those things that are exclusive to me.

But ‘what if’? I changed that saying to ‘What now?’ And waited and listened. To the whispers that took up residence in my heart. Or maybe they were always there as I ran though my days trying to prove my worth to the world.

‘What if’ I lived my life in regret and bemoaned the fact that my life had not turned out the way I had expected? ‘What if” I sat home in my four walls and cried about what might have been? Would I have started a homeless ministry for the overlooked? The unhoused men who slept in bushes- would I have invited them into my house for food and love? Would I have looked outside of myself for my self-worth rather than dwell on my looks, my income, my status?

‘What if’ you ARE living the perfect life? ‘What if’ you can be happy without all of the ‘stuff’ you were so sure you needed? ‘What if’ where you are at right now is not only enough but more than enough? ‘What if’ you fell asleep at night knowing that the world is a better place because you lived? And ‘what if’ that happened because life did not turn out the way YOU planned it?

‘What if’ you decide to live in the present and let the past be a learning tool to get you to today.

‘What if’ or the present? It’s your choice.