Double-Dipped (with All The Toppings)
When I went to Italy this summer, I was able to check off one of my favorite bucket-list items… "Try every flavor of gelato in Italy!" At least every flavor I came across, which included the International Gelato Festival and Competition. From mango-ginger to pistachio-basil to Nutella-graham cracker – who knew there were so many flavors? And yes, I may have had to start a regimented workout routine the moment I got back in order to shed those extra gelato pounds, but oh... it was SO worth it.
I am a believer in ice cream (obviously) and an advocate of living a life that exceeds the norm. No matter what your life looks like right now, you can start living a life that you love. And it can start today.
So, without further delay, here are my steps for living a double-dipped (with all the toppings) life:
1. The Vanilla Cone
We weren’t meant to live small insignificant lives. We were meant to live big God-sized dreams. Do you feel like you’re living a small life right now? Check out this scripture:
2 Corinthians 6:11-13 “I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you are living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open your lives. Live open and expansively.”
It is up to us to live full lives. And the key to that is not to fall into the trap of trying to be like everyone else. The number one killer of God-sized dreams is trying to fit into the mold of “everyone else.”
• Everyone else is in a relationship
• Everyone else is doing this on the weekends
• Everyone else is working at these types of jobs
• Everyone else is doing this for the summer
Everyone else will lead you to exactly that…living a life like everyone else. Nothing special. Nothing adventurous. But God has more for you!
2. Ice Cream Delight
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart.“ Psalm 37:4
This scripture says that to see the desires of your heart come to pass (aka your Life List) we need to take delight in our relationship with God. Notice, it doesn’t say grovel, do penance, or beg the Lord…it says delight.
To delight in something meant that we would really look forward to it and find joy in it! And that is exactly what our relationship with God can be. Something we really look forward to and enjoy.
So how do you do that?
The way I did it was I started talking to Him, reading my Bible, and listening more. And not in an “I have to,” way, but in an “I get to” way. I just started talking to Him all throughout the day (but not in like a weird way where people start staring at you and pulling their kids a little closer). I shared my heart with Him, and told him about my victories and my losses, the highs and the lows. I began to wake up in the morning and took the first few seconds lying in bed to thank Him for the day and the good things in my life. I started looking forward to church.
Before I knew it, I was really enjoying my relationship with Him. He was so real, and loving, and wise, and came up with the best surprises for me. Yes, I did say surprises…He is always doing little things to surprise and bless me. Especially on not-so-great days. And that’s what he wants to do for ALL his girls— have a real on-going relationship with us.
I found that as I was spending time with Him, my desires started changing…they started getting bigger, expanding beyond me. He started replacing my natural small-sized desires with His GOD-SIZED desires.
3. The Everything Sundae
Ephesians 3:20 says “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory.
It’s time to take the limits off God. We have to realize how big a God we serve and that He isn’t limited by money, time, circumstances, or our current situation. God doesn’t just want us to live small lives in a small way, chasing after the things that the world says are important. He wants you to live a real life, a full life…a life like no one else, because that’s the type of life he designed you for. So we have to take the limits off and begin to dream big, audacious, fearlessly beautiful dreams!
God can do a lot in our lives, but it is according to His power at work within us. So that means we need to do our part too. What’s our part? Let me know your thoughts below.