LIVE The Truth In Your Heart. Linda Taylor
even in the face of adversity and popular opinion. God knows everything about you and He is waiting for you to see yourself as He sees you. When you do, He is prepared to give you everything you need so you can live out your life’s purpose. You simply have to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, just as He loves you. Have faith that He also has your world in His hands, and then be ready to receive all that He has in store for you. Believe me, He wants to bless you so you can be a blessing!
I know without question that our meeting is not by chance. It is not an accident that you have picked up this book, a book that will soon change your life. For some of you, you are reading the second edition, and this too is by design and certainly not by chance. God is ready to reveal even more about who you are and who He wants you to become.
The God we serve is a God of order, and as such, you must know that all of our steps are predetermined, and not a day of our lives happens without a divine appointment from Him. It was destined that I would share the lessons from my past so that you could be inspired to seek the truth in your heart. This day was set aside, long ago, so you would be motivated to live your absolute best life!
As you read LIVE The Truth In Your Heart, I pray you realize that despite where you have been and despite where you are today, God has something magnificent planned for your future. He says His plans for your life are inconceivable! So whatever you have in mind, I am sure it pales in comparison to what is truly in store for you! God wants to use you and all that you bring to the table for His glory. There is a truth that has been hidden in your heart, and He knows your desires and all that you hope for. He is intimately acquainted with every aspect of your life, and He knows your potential, even more than you know yourself. He just wants you to stop long enough to know that He is on the throne and what ever you see for your future, He is working it out in your favor!
Through this book, I give to you a gift, the precious residual of my yesterday so that you are motivated beyond measure. I know there is a power in my past, and I intend to use it to live out my calling. Are you prepared to use your God-ordained gifts, your passions, and your experiences to go higher, beyond what you ever thought would be possible for your life? Are you ready to let go and let God work in your life so He can reveal His perfect will for you? I challenge you today to be true to yourself and who you were called to be. Say that you will live your life in full honesty - because you can. This is your time. This is your moment. Get ready, because there are greater things to come!
A Prayer of Truth
Heavenly Father, I know that your promise is real and true for my life. I also know that where I am today is only temporary! I receive your promise that greater things will come as long as I commit to loving and serving you. I am so grateful for your unconditional love which comforts me and reassures me daily. Because of your love, I know who I am. I am a child of the Most High God and your favor rests upon me. Today I surrender! I am yours to do with as you please. No longer will I worry about my tomorrow because you have my world in your hands. I give it all to you to work out, just as you have planned. In this moment, I submit my will to you in exchange for your perfect will for my life. Expand my territory and deliver me to my destiny! Father, let your will be done here on earth and in me!
-Amen
Your Truth Is In Your Heart
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:11-13
Deep inside I have always known that God wanted to use me for something special. Even as a kid, I believed His promise with every inch of my heart. This promise worked well for me because I was determined to be somebody. The challenge I faced was that it wasn’t clear in my mind exactly how I would make this happen. As I matured, my desire to be somebody evolved into the desire to be somebody who could make a difference in the lives of others. I wanted to operate in God’s will, serve others, and be blessed all at the same time. This is what I call living!
I believe we are all here to fulfill a well defined calling on our lives, and perhaps like you, I desperately wanted to know what that would look like for me. Because of my lack of understanding around what my true purpose was, confusion grew in my mind and in my life. I have known for years that I had a passion for leading, inspiring, and developing people. This is what I love. This is where I am gifted and where I know I can make a difference. For a very long time, in my push to find my way, I became frustrated and anxious. I was ready for more.
With every passing year, my desire to have greater clarity regarding how to satisfy the pull toward living a more purposeful life seemed to grow. Even though I knew what my passions were and where I was gifted, the real question was where do I use them and how? I wanted to know how my passions and my gifts would play out in the bigger picture of my life; the living out of my calling.
Just because you know where you are gifted and what you love does not mean you fully understand the purpose for your life. Your passions are the things you do that bring you joy. Your gifts are those things you do well. When you are able to engage in your passions, use your gifts and fulfill God’s will by making a difference in the lives of others , you are living on purpose. This is what God wants for us.
I knew that if I followed my passions and operated in the space where I was gifted and experienced, more would be revealed to me, and someday I would be able to walk in my purpose. I had to accept that my purpose was not a final destination waiting to be found; it would be a way of life. Purpose seeking meant that, with each day, my actions and my thoughts had to remain focused on God’s will for my life. It meant I had to seek my own happiness first, and I had to look for ways to share my joy with others. I was on a mission to live my best life.
As vague as it was, I knew there was a plan, and it was originating in my heart. I knew that all the answers regarding how to live out my purpose was already safely nestled inside of me. I knew this, and I believed this because God’s word said so.
Even still, with every passing year, in a self-directed effort to find where I was meant to be, I took many roads. I tried my hand in many different things hoping to find my joy. I experienced many situations and the resulting negative emotions that would ultimately force my hand and serve to direct my life’s journey away from my true purpose.
I have often found myself in situations that I thought were perfect for me, only to be revisited by the feeling that, still, there is more, and more for me to do. When you find yourself in the midst of a self-directed journey, you can rest assured the result will be much less than what God has envisioned for your life. Let Him order your steps. Let Him lead you on this life’s journey. Trust me, He has a much better plan!
Your heart is speaking to you in soft whispers every day and I encourage you to take notice. It is telling you to stop, listen and allow God to order your steps. Just like you, I heard these tender words, but I could not bring myself to comply because I felt so compelled to try it my way, just one more time. I saw what could have been for my life, yet I ignored it, over and over. I felt so driven to follow through on the plan that was in my head only to find out that my way was the wrong way. With every move away from my purpose, I could feel the sting. More time wasted. More frustration revealed.
I continued on the path that I felt was the best fit for me, ignoring the promise that was inside. As I searched for my next move, I struggled with the internal conversations. Literally, it was as if there were two people in my head, and they were at war! One was cheering me on telling me that my desire to live in God’s will was too important to ignore and that I should actively listen to what my heart was saying. The other voice, the voice of reason, was constantly reminding me of the difficulty in this journey and all the reasons why change would not work. In fact, the feeling was that it would take a miracle to achieve what had been shown to me. This voice of reason was my mind operating on its own and void of faith. This voice reminded