What Will it Take?

A Cup of Tea with Carol
Written By Carol McLeod

What’s it going to take?

What’s it going to take to become the person that you have always wanted to be?

What is it going to take to leave your pain and regrets in the past so that you are fully able to embrace the joy that is singular to today?

What’s it going to take to live with fearless enthusiasm and heartfelt passion?

What’s it going to take?

You know … “something” threatens to hold all of us back from living in our destinies. That “thing” can be something minor or something massive … but it holds us back just the same.

For some people it might be fear … or worry … or shame … or regret … or insecurities … or sin … or disappointment … or anger … or … or … or …

Do you see your “thing” in that cancerous and ominous list?

What’s it going to take?

Often, when I am in a public situation, I find myself looking into the faces of the people who are within my view. In airports, in restaurants, in a hotel lobby, on my daily walk, I peer intently into the eyes of strangers.

I cannot escape the emptiness in their very countenance.

I watch the insecure body language of these unknown yet familiar people; I hear their hollow laughter and look into their languishing eyes. As I study them in their futile pursuit of desolate values and deceitful choices, my heart is broken.

Absolutely broken.

I think of the person that God created each one of them to be. I can only imagine what God had in store for each individual life when He thought of their lives long before the beginning of eternity.

Was one of these nameless people created to discover the cure for cancer? Instead, he or she has needle tracks on their precious arms.

Was one of them created to be an astronaut? Instead, that person has settled for a life that has been frustratingly earthbound by compromises and mediocrity.

Was there a face in the anonymous crowd who was created to write books that would touch thousands of hearts? Or to write the worship songs of a generation? Or to lead a nation?

What’s it going to take?

As much as I would love to control the lives of the random folks who walk around the boundaries of my life, the truth is, I can only control my life. My choices. My destiny.

But … what is it going to take for me to live a life worthy of the plans that God has for me? Is that even possible?!

You know … I happen to believe that it is possible. I think that it is indeed possible for a man or a woman to partner with God in living a life so grand that heaven roars with approval. I don’t think that it is possible to live a perfect life … but it is possible to live an extraordinary life.

David wasn’t perfect … but he had a heart after God’s own heart.

Abraham wasn’t perfect … yet still he counted the stars with God.

Jacob wasn’t perfect … but he chose to worship his way into eternity.

I am not perfect … but I choose to pursue God!

I am not perfect … but I love to dream with the Father!

I am so not perfect … but I will worship regardless of what my circumstances seem to be.

So … what is it going to take?! Perhaps what it takes is for a person, made in the image of God, to pursue the heart of the Father with every fiber of one’s being.

Maybe what it takes … is to dream with God and to have no regard for human limitations.

Maybe what it takes to live with the very fingerprint of heaven upon one’s ordinary soul requires a commitment to worship.

And maybe … just maybe … what those frustrated faces in the crowd are longing for is to watch somebody else live well. Perhaps what will encourage a stranger to embrace a seed of greatness is simply my decision … or your decision … to live a life of heavenly proportions.

Is that all it takes?!

It takes the acknowledgement that we were made for so much more than this. You and I were made for the plans and purposes of God at our moment in history.

You and I were made to pursue God fully … to dream without limits … and to worship extravagantly! Those daily choices are the building blocks of what it takes to live a glorious and historic life!

That’s what it takes.

I can do what it takes.

I can do it because He lives in me.

I can do it because I was made in His image.

I can do it because David did it … and Abraham did it … and Jacob did it.

I can do it because Esther did it … and Hannah did it … and Mary did it.

I can do it because I know what it takes.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10
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Carol McLeod
Carol says, “I am just a girl who is head over heels in love with Jesus ... passionately addicted to His Word ... and find all of the joy that I need in time spent in His presence." Carol is a Christmas-aholic, loves ACC basketball and the beach! Like all menopausal women, she is overly fond of chocolate and enjoys a good read. She doesn't like cleaning her house and is an expert in carry-out dinners. She hates to shop … loves to jog … and somehow finds time in her busy life to hang out with small children. She is the kind of woman that you could laugh with over lunch, cry with over disappointment and shout with over a victory! But … if you need her official bio … read on! Carol is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. She also hosts highly successful Just Joy! outreaches. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. Carol has written three books, "Holy Estrogen!", "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart" and "Defiant Joy!" which was released by a subsidiary of Thomas Nelson. Her teaching DVD, "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart", won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award, for excellence in religious programming. Carol has also been featured on YouVersion (the smart phone Bible app) with several devotionals, including: "For the Journey Set Before Him", "Jolt of Joy", and "Joy to YOUR world", " Carol has a daily radio program, "Defiant Joy! Radio" which is available in several national markets including Youngsville PA, Warren PA, Buffalo NY, Roanoke VA, Norfolk VA, and Nashville TN.  A 1977 graduate of Oral Roberts University with a degree in Music and English, Carol has the distinction of being both the first Women's Chaplain and the first woman to speak at the university's Vespers.  Carol currently serves on the ORU Alumni Board as chaplain.  She is married to her college sweetheart and love of her life, Craig, who serves as senior pastor of Life Church, a church near Buffalo, NY.  Craig and Carol have been happily married for nearly 37 years and are the parents of five children and three delightful daughters-in-law. Craig and Carol are thrilled with the joy of being grandparents to five precious grandchildren! Carol has written three books, "Holy Estrogen!", "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart" and "Defiant Joy!" which was released by a subsidiary of Thomas Nelson. Her teaching DVD, "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart", won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award, for excellence in religious programming. Carol has also been featured on YouVersion (the smart phone Bible app) with several devotionals, including: "For the Journey Set Before Him", "Jolt of Joy", and "Joy to YOUR world", " Carol has a daily radio program, "Defiant Joy! Radio" which is available in several national markets including Youngsville PA, Warren PA, Buffalo NY, Roanoke VA, Norfolk VA, and Nashville TN.  A 1977 graduate of Oral Roberts University with a degree in Music and English, Carol has the distinction of being both the first Women's Chaplain and the first woman to speak at the university's Vespers.  Carol currently serves on the ORU Alumni Board as chaplain.  She is married to her college sweetheart and love of her life, Craig, who serves as senior pastor of Life Church, a church near Buffalo, NY.  Craig and Carol have been happily married for nearly 37 years and are the parents of five children and three delightful daughters-in-law. Craig and Carol are thrilled with the joy of being grandparents to five precious grandchildren!
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