NEW YEAR, NEW DREAMS

Goal setting is always fun because I have crazy visions for life and actually think they will be accomplished. But there’s something about writing them out and forming them into actual steps and plans that makes them become incredibly overwhelming. Opportunities become a threatening giant and I feel smaller than David with what seems like even less faith than he had. The risk seems far too high for chasing dreams to actually be worth it.

As I’m debating with myself and simultaneously suiting up for battle, God stops me in my tracks and gives me a glimpse of His perspective...

Paisley, my music producer’s daughter, was featured on the cover of my 2018 live EP Just A Child. Her eyes capture the wonder I want to be filled with this new year. [Photo Credit: Omari Cudjoe]

“Ashley, when did life become about you taking on battles and accomplishing dreams on your own? Your greatest accomplishment is to receive my grace and rest in my love. I’m the one who’s fighting your battles, I’m the one who’s propelling you forward, I’m the one who will accomplish the dreams I Myself gave to you! The visions you see for your life and for those around you? Those are to drive you to Me - not to drive you to DO on your own!

Your dreams seem lofty and far away, and that is my gracious design! You become overwhelmed trying to accomplish them on your own, and that is my grace to you! Through these dreams I gave you, I am causing you to become a woman who desires me more than you desire anything you could accomplish. A woman who relies on me for every step. A woman whose ultimate goal is to love me with every thought, every breath.

So when you get overwhelmed by these grand visions and the path I am taking you on, breathe. The purpose of that breath you just took was to love Me. Plain and simple. 

In my grace, I give you dreams and visions. In my grace, I lead you forward in them. In my grace, I say “not yet, precious one.” Because I want you to know that life is never about what you accomplish - it’s about loving and being loved by Me. It’s about who My love is shaping you to be. 

You may not have accomplished all your goals in 2018, and that is My grace to you. You may not have every opportunity you desire in 2019, and that is my grace to you as well.

“YOUR SUCCESS IS DETERMINED BY WHAT I HAVE DONE, NOT BY WHAT YOU DO.”

—

2018 was full of surprises - yes, the opportunities I had, the incredible things I got to be a part of, and the beautiful people I got to journey with. But the greatest surprises have been who I am becoming because of what God did on my behalf.

It’s not about what I want to do in 2019, it’s about who I want to be. Actually, it’s about who God is forming me to be as I live with him. This year, I’m not setting goals of what I want to accomplish, I’m asking God to show me who he wants me to become. (Even this is not about working hard to become that person, but working with the Lord as he forms me to be that woman.)

Success is not accomplishing goals, success is celebrating what God already accomplished.