Calculated Risk

I’ve had a lot of fun conversations about risk this week! I love that people are listening to God and allowing Him to whisper dreams in their hearts. With that in mind, one of the things that I think people miss is that taking risks should include wise calculations. Mark and I have stepped out multiple times in faith, but behind all of our decisions is a mountain of planning and figuring. Yes, we hear from God, and yes, it is usually beyond our reach. That being said, there are many parts to the equation that you can plan for and you need to always partner risk with wisdom.

Here are some tips for hearing from God and living a life of bold faith:

1. When you begin to hear from God, you need to begin to get a financial plan. Most of the things that God puts on our hearts equate to needing cash along the way. If you are hearing from God and aren’t being a wise saver/spender, you are being irresponsible. If your plan is to live off of welfare because you are “living in faith”, that is not a good plan. If you REALLY heard from God, then begin setting aside the funds as you go because you believe it to the core of your decision making.

2. You need wise counsel. I am most afraid of people who hear from God and don’t include wise people in the conversation. Who did God place in your life as a sounding board? (In addition to the financial piece above, if your “wise counsel” handles money poorly, you need some new counsel.) When God speaks to us about a new opportunity, we jump into action and start making calls to the few key people who walk alongside of us in life. Troy Jones had given us advice at every major turn of our lives since Mark was 15 and I was 20. We keep going back to him because he listens to God and he knows us inside and out.

3. You need boundaries of when to quit. Let’s face it…sometimes our plan just isn’t progressing forward even after our BEST attempt. Put boundaries around your plans that allow you to go another direction! Mark and I had an “end date” for our church. If it wasn’t growing and financially viable at a certain point we were going to pack our bags and quit. Why? It’s simple…our core dream is to impact people’s lives (we’ll never quit on that), but if the plan we are functioning within doesn’t do that, we’ll give up on the plan at some point in order to keep our dream alive one way or another.

I hope that helps as you are making decisions of how to pursue the whisper on your heart! I’m a BIG fan of risk, but I’m equally impressed by wisdom. If you can put the two together, nothing will stop you in life.