Here is a tough question for you. Are you taking this big calling on your life from God seriously?

Your first instinct is to say:
“Of course I am taking it seriously! I built a website and started a blog, didn’t I?
I write on it … um .. sometimes.
I take care of my clients … well .. except for that lady I forgot to call back last week.
I went to an expensive conference to learn and to network … but …. I haven’t looked at my notes since I got home.”

Does that sound familiar? We start out with the best of intentions fueled by a fiery passion to change the world, right a wrong or lead a hurting heart to the healing hand of Jesus. We do all the right things to get started, but then …. life happens. We lose focus, stop following through, we hit a roadblock. And before we know it, the thing we were so certain was God’s unique assignment for us is sitting on the shelf with the gym membership we never used and the library books we never opened.

Is that really what God wants from us? To treat the holy responsibility laid heavy on our hearts as a hobby that can be picked up and put down at will? Surely not. I think God gives us these assignments because he trusts us to follow through and do them with all our hearts.

When we have allowed the circumstances of life to dim our fire and steal our focus on the one thing God has called us to do, there is always an opportunity to restore things to their proper place.

Make space in your lives for focus.

We are busy busy busy. If God asked me to take on one more thing right now, I might just curl up in my bed and hide under the covers.

“Not me, Lord. Not now.”

But guess what? God is (thankfully) a lot smarter than us. He is not going to give us more than we can handle. The problem is that we think we can handle it all.

If you don’t have time to do the things God has called you to do, you are doing things he didn’t intend for you to do. Ouch, right? It’s time to examine our schedule and decide what doesn’t belong there.

Brush up on your leadership skills

This may seem like a low priority, especially if the only person on your team is you. But actually, this is the perfect time for learning to be a leader. After all, if you can’t motivate yourself, how can you expect to motivate others? If you can’t hold yourself accountable and do what you say you are going to do, why should anyone else take you seriously?
The early and lonely stage of growth provides many opportunities to establish ourselves as leaders who can make wise decisions, resolve conflicts while preserving relationships and pursue a vision with prayerful passion.

Be a learner

Sometimes we lose steam in the beginning of our dream journey when we realize all we don’t know about running a business. We may have expertise in our field, but building a website, writing sales copy and setting up an accounting system may be all new.

Rather than let what we don’t know be a barrier to taking the next success steps, let’s embrace it as an opportunity to learn something new. God is going to provide all the resources we need to do what he has called us to do, and that includes the knowledge we need to be productive and effective. He may provide it in the form of a mentor to guide us, a course to teach us or a friend to walk the road alongside us.

This dream is big and at times, it is heavy. Fear often masquerades as complacency and keeps us from making forward movement. With our own high expectations and success in other areas of life, we lose motivation when things don’t come easy. This is the time to show ourselves as approved workers of God, rightly demonstrating the truth that we are called to something serious and capable of being brave, bold leaders.

Where are you slipping right now? What do you need to buckle down on to push forward? What step can you complete today to pursue your goal?