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In today's episode Jodi reflects on a devotion she wrote in 2016. Much life has happened since then. She shares how God has answered prayers. Be encouraged to lay your aspirations before God trusting Him to do a new thing. Allow God's word to speak into your heart's desire, dreams, and goals.

Go Forward!

Copied from a devotion written in 2016.

For years, I have had aspirations for a specific dream. I often pursued it but my insecurities, doubts, and fears would wrap around me, hindering any movement forward. I have asked myself many times: Is it just the glamorous idea of it that keeps me holding on to it? Or is it something that God wants me to move forward with? I did not know the answer.

Can you relate? Maybe you have aspirations to open your home for foster care, start your own business, become a stay- at- home mom, or start a new friendship\u2026\xa0 Are you uncertain if this is a leading from God or just a dreamy idea?

I find the uncertainty to be exhausting.

I was tired of holding onto a dream that goes nowhere.

I was ready for it to die or take on a new life.

I needed affirmation for my aspiration. So I began praying with a willingness to surrender my dream to God.\xa0 A willingness to let it die. \xa0As I was praying, I heard the birds chirping outside.\xa0 I opened the back door of the house and the outdoors beckoned me. The sky was painted baby blue. The breeze was gentle with a relaxing warmth. The empty chair on the back deck was inviting, so I gave in and took my journal and bible with me.\xa0 Of course, I had a cup of coffee too. ;)

As I settled in my chair and soaked in the atmosphere, I opened my bible and asked God to use His word for clarity. I asked Him to speak and He did.

On this particular day, I picked up reading where I\u2019d left off the previous day in Exodus 14.

Up to this point in the book of Exodus, the Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years and for many of those years they were slaves.\xa0 They were now under the authority of the Egyptian Pharaoh, who had a hardened heart. God sent Moses to speak with Pharaoh to request that His people, the Israelites, be set free. It was not until the last plague God sent that Pharaoh let the Israelites free.\xa0 You can read about the plagues here.\xa0 As nearly a million of them fled, Pharaoh had a change of heart and pursued them with his army and hundreds of chariots.\xa0 They came upon them near the Red Sea. \u201cAs Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.\u201d Exodus 14:10

This is where it gets real.\xa0 God\u2019s about to do the inconceivable!

\u201cBut Moses said to the people, \u201cDo not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.\xa0 The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.\xa0 Then the LORD said to Moses, why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to GO FORWARD.\xa0 As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.\u201d (Exodus 14:13-16 NASB)

God was speaking to me through this passage.\xa0 He did not want me to stand by and keep silent.

He spoke as if a voice behind my ears (Isaiah30:21) GO FORWARD! Stop being lukewarm and pursue your dream with a hot passion! When you GO FORWARD, I will part the waters and make your path clear.

\u201cBehold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth, will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.\u201d (Isaiah 43:19)

I received my answer! My dream had new life breathed into it! (Now I need to Go FORWARD because God said, \u201cGO FORWARD!\u201d, and I can trust Him to equip me and make away.)

Do you find the uncertainty exhausting? Lay your aspirations before God and find peace as He reveals a confirmation either way.\xa0 He may just be waiting for you to GO FORWARD so He can part the waters.

LINKS: Click below to learn more about Jodi and places to hear her podcast \u201cPennies In Your Path\u201d:

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