Beyond Your Best Life: How to Live a Life of Peace, Purpose, and Courage.
Beyond Your Best Life: How to Live a Life of Peace, Purpose, and Courage.
Living beyond your best life begins with having the peace of God, which can only come from having peace with God.
Welcome to the 69th post of The Aim and Soar Life, a weekly newsletter about faith, personal growth, and lifestyle that provides actionable, relatable, and biblically rooted content to help you live abundantly and GROW YOU. GOD’S WAY.
Greetings Fam!
First, I’d like to wish you a Happy 4th of July! I know a lot of you are grilling and planning wonderful fireworks displays. Enjoy the time with your family and friends as you make beautiful, life-long, memories.
Forgive me for not connecting with you on our scheduled Sunday evening. Life was life-ing! I pray this post is well worth the wait!😍
The theme for July is: Beyond Your Best Life (which happens to be the title of an upcoming book I’m writing). Yaay!😉
“I’m living my best life!” I’m sure you’ve heard this declaration plenty of times over the past few years. You’ve seen it all over social media, and there have been books and songs written about it. But what does it mean to truly live your best life? And how is it even possible with chaos occurring all around you?
Whenever I’ve heard someone say, “I’m living my best life,” or seen the phrase on social media, I immediately think of the kind of experiences that have become synonymous with the phrase—people enjoying exciting vacations, lavish brunches, concerts, parties, or simply getting their “shop” on during a shopping spree.
I’m reminded of the “external” blessings God allows us to have, like possessions and the ability to use our wealth (whatever we have been given by God) to enjoy our lives.
So, I asked myself, “Sherrhonda, are you really living your best life?”
If I had to base my answer on what I’ve observed others on social media embracing as their best lives, my answer would be a resounding NO.
My life does not look at all like the snippets I see of other people’s lives on social media. You know, the glam, the bliss, the “happier-than-I’ve-ever-been-before,” giddy life.
The season I’m in right now is one of pivoting, rebuilding, and reflecting. It is often somber and full of tears. Because of that, I have to remind myself to embrace the joy God offers me even in this season.
I wrestled with the contrast of my life’s reality vs. “living my best life” for a while before I concluded that what I truly desire is to live beyond my best life and experience something more meaningful, not just for me, but for all those around me as well.
I need a deeper, more comforting pleasure in my life right now, so I have focused on the gifts and blessings that provide me with this comforting pleasure: peace, purpose, and courage.
Peace
I have found that peace with God is the foundation of mental health and mental wealth—not just surviving but thriving. Regardless of the situations that occur in my life, the peace of belonging to God sustains me. I don’t always understand God. At times, I have felt that God is so loving and kind toward me, and at other times, I have felt like a punished stepchild, an unwanted Cinderella (Don’t clutch your pearls, I’m just being real y'all ).
I have been called and gifted by God to teach His word, which is an awesome honor that I do not take lightly. And one thing I know for sure is: when it comes to God and His word, we can’t rely on our feelings. We must have faith in who God says He is—no matter what we feel.
And God says He loves us. He tells us that He is compassionate.
That is the truth that I return to in times of chaos and doubt.
8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
Psalm 145:8-9, KJV
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.9 The Lord is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.Psalm 145: 8-9, NIV
Knowing the truth about God, I have no choice but to take control of my mind and banish my untrue thoughts. I tell myself that just because life is life-ing, it doesn’t mean I’m being rejected by God. My circumstances don’t change who God is.
When I am frustrated or angry, He knows. When I miss the mark of His standards, He knows. But I go to Him and tell Him anyway to release the burden from my belly. I remind Him that I know that I need Him and can’t do anything without Him.
Living beyond your best life begins with having the peace of God, which can only come from having peace with God. Peace with God is gained through the salvation of Jesus Christ. And our salvation is evidence of God’s love for us.
Living beyond your best life begins with having the peace of God, which can only come from having peace with God. Peace with God is gained through the salvation of Jesus Christ. And our salvation is evidence of God’s love for us.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:4-7, NKJV
Once you have accepted the salvation of Christ, you can wholly receive the peace of being in a relationship with God—knowing that He loves you and cares for you. You can accept the peace He offers daily to get you through whatever you are facing.
Salvation is peace with God; your daily walk with Him and experiencing all He has to offer you is the peace of God. This is your lifeline. This is what I hold onto.
Life may not be all glitz and glam for you right now either. In fact, life can and will seem to fall apart. However, the peace of God is a shelter for your mind and your heart—even in the toughest times.
Moving beyond your best life means stepping into God’s peace.
Purpose
There is a lot of discussion about “purpose” on the internet. Books, conferences, workshops, and life coaches all claim to be able to help you discover your purpose while promising that you’ll have a wonderful life when you do.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I want to save you some time and money.
If the purpose you are seeking isn’t rooted in what God has created you for, you will continue to be empty and feel like there is something more to life.
I believe God hard-wires each person’s purpose in him or her. Sometimes we see it in children when they are very young. I have a sister-friend at church who knew at age 3 that she was going to be a doctor! I believe the Lord put that desire in her heart because that was part of His plan for her life.
Likewise, as an eight-year-old, I would gather my little neighbors together and play “school.” I would teach a few reading and spelling lessons and then teach modern dance. God had put it in my belly to teach others. He gave me the ability to break down content into digestible pieces and make complex ideas easily understandable to others.
As I aged, people would come to me with their problems and tell me their secrets. I learned that I am an encourager. As a result, I became a social worker and therapist. I find great satisfaction in teaching people and encouraging them.😍
But these “callings” are a part of my secular purpose. What about my eternal purpose? My Kingdom purpose?
Your Kingdom purpose is directly tied to the spiritual gifts God has given you.
Your Kingdom purpose is directly tied to the spiritual gifts God has given you.
10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
1 Peter 4:10-11, NLT
Spiritual gifts are bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit at the time of our salvation.
Do you know what your spiritual gifts are?
If not, I encourage you to take a spiritual gifts inventory online. There are several websites you can explore via good ‘ole Google.😁
God wants to use you to further His Kingdom. He wants you to use your gifts for the benefit of building up and supporting the church, the body of Christ. We are it. We are His body.
Moving beyond your best life means moving into and operating in your eternal purpose. You have gifts that someone in the body needs! Your job is to help equip the saints through whatever gifts God has given you.
He has first equipped us by giving us the gifts we need to carry out this task.
When I first started writing I did not know the Lord. Then while I was writing my first novel (that has never been published) I accepted Jesus and I knew that I had to use the gift (regular talent) of writing for the Lord. But just how was my fiction writing going to build up the body?
Well, little did I know, along with that with the spiritual gift of teaching, God had also given me the gift of exhortation. Through my Christian fiction writing, I can teach about God in creative ways and encourage people in their faith. My writing helps people to apply God’s truths to their lives without me being “preachy.” My spiritual gifts are being used to uplift and encourage the body.
This is my purpose, and it gives me great pleasure to walk in it. To serve God in this way brings me indescribable joy.
Your purpose matters because it extends beyond this life! Your spiritual gifts may help bring someone to Christ! There is no better way to move beyond your best life into something more meaningful than to operate in your Kingdom purpose.
Courage
Remember the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz??? “I do. I do. I do. I do. I do believe in spooks,” is what the poor thing said.😂
Don’t be like him!
He was a big ‘ole lion with no courage. Everything “spooked” him.
Sometimes, we Christians are no better than the cowardly lion. Our faith is strong until life starts—say it with me—life-ing!
How can you possibly live your best life if you are running scared?
Why do we so easily become “spooked” by life when the God of the entire universe, Creator of everything seen and unseen—in this world and the world to come—is our Father?
Why do we so easily become “spooked” by life when the God of the entire universe, Creator of everything seen and unseen—in this world and the world to come—is our Father?
Imagine being the daughter or son of the most powerful King on earth and you are protected by a fierce, unbeatable military that is waiting to destroy any enemy that threatens you. Would you be afraid of anything? Absolutely not.
Now, imagine our God, our loving Father, who holds ALL power in His hands. He needs none other than Himself to protect you. You can rest easy. You can do what I used to do when I was a kid if someone messed with me. Go. Tell. My. Daddy.
Think of how safe you could feel if you allowed yourself to revel in the truth of who God is. Not what your bank account says, not what the doctor says, but only in the truth of the Almighty God.
We need courage, my friend.
“Courage to do what?” you ask.
The courage to conquer anything that’s what!
Remember in the Bible when Joshua was leading the people of Israel into the Promised Land and The Lord told him to be strong and courageous? Well, that goes for you too!
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9, NIV
If you belong to Christ through the pardon of your sins, you should have the courage to face anything.
Yes, life sucks sometimes; it gets hard. Seemingly unbearable. But instead of falling apart, tell yourself who God says He is. Remind yourself of the promises of God. Write them out and post them all around your home. Recite them.
Ask God for the courage you need. You can live beyond your best life by being courageous!
Peace and Love
Until Next Time,
GROW YOU. GOD’S WAY.
Sherrhonda😍
P.S.
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