Never Settle For Less Than God's Best.

         I feel like everyone says they just want to "settle down" someday. I hate to break it to you friends, but a life with Jesus- a life living for the Kingdom- calls you out of settling down. I somehow think that I am entitled to this life with a 2 story house with a decent car and a doting spouse and 3 children. news flash, Aly: you are not. Actually, as a Christian, i am called to think and live outside of those four walls. There's nothing wrong with these things, actually- they're awesome-, but I should never slip into the mentality of "settling down". As Christians we are called to STIR UP.  Always. We are called to expand the Kingdom, to make disciples, to love until there's no love left (clue: God is love. God is infinite. Therefore, love is infinite.. just saying). There's no taking breaks or just sitting back and living the average life for "settling down"'s sake. In the little time and impact I have on this earth as a disciple of Jesus Christ- there is no time for that. I was fearfully, wonderfully, and uniquely made do to a specific job, to fulfill my full potential and purpose, to stir up the world and the people in it. I was not just put on this earth to live the "normal" life. Just an FYI- the second you said "yes" to Jesus was the second you said adios to normality. This doesn't mean you have to drop everything in life to go to Africa or some other third-world country. You may just be working a 9-5 office job, or be nanny or a school teacher, but make your normal "American dream" life radical for Jesus. Make it a mission to be a blessing at the office, be a nanny who expresses God's grace and compassion for little ones, and be a teacher that lives to captivate their students to live their dreams and be all they can. I never want to settle down, I never want to stop going, stop pursuing or persevering. He who began a good work in me will see it until it's completion, and I am confident that I am usable by God to stir up WHATEVER he wants until the very last second before he takes me home. I have more than I need in Jesus, I don't need a 2 story house with a doting husband and 3 kids. I'm willing to live outside that mentality, to do whatever God asks of me, whatever the cost. I wasn't put on this earth to settle- I was put on this earth to live.