What drives you forward...

What drives you forward... when everything else seems to be pulling at you?  That is the question.  What inspires you; motivates you; what is it - or who is it - that comes alongside to remind you of why you started this whole thing (whatever 'it' is!) anyway!

Between Ann Voskamp with her one thousand gifts and the challenge to reflect back over mentors who have poured into our lives, Emily over at chatting at the sky and her series on Artists and Influencers, and Holley Gerth encouraging us all to live out our God-Sized Dreams - I have been pondering this pull... this drive to press on, to keep going, to not give up!

And then today - it came in a question... a fellow creative, asked out loud in an artist group on facebook.  She asked us in the beginning - the very beginning - who and what was our inspiration and what has kept us going day after day.  She went on to say that she is asking because she was in need of some 'hard-core, where the rubber meets the road, nitty-gritty encouragement' today!  

This came after days and weeks of me really thinking this through!  WHY do I keep at this?  I have said it all along... I am called.  I never doubt it - but sometimes I doubt anything will come of it!  I have had seasons where I was willing to do the hard parts, put in the long hours. But to be honest, I've had seasons where I just wasn't!  It was not a priority or a task that captured my heart... I pushed it aside, or laid it down, and tried to ignore it.  But when you are truly called to do something... it never really goes away!

So this, my answer to her question, it caught me by surprise. Not because it was a new thought or revelation, but because it has been true all along!  It's just that some times... some days... {some years} I can lose clarity of sight and my vision fades. So this.  My answer:

"I started ages ago - and mostly out of obedience to the Lord! I have gone through seasons of neglecting it and honestly questioning the call - wondering if any one (literally sometimes - any ONE) was reading it. I write out of what He is showing me or sharing with me and my heart and inspiration for blogging is to share my heart and encourage a deeper real personal relationship between my reader and the Lord! I have recently recommitted to paying attention to it! LOL! I try to write at least 2x's per week. I have 2 blogs - one for my business (scrapbook and photography) and one for writing in a devotional/inspirational style- so some weeks that twice a week goal doesn't quite happen on both of them! I write for HIM... and pray others read along! I have to remind myself of that when I am discouraged or feel lonely in my little corner of the web!  Keep at it! You always ALWAYS have an audience of One!"

Aaaah - and there it is! What drives me forward, when all else seems like it is pulling me in fifty different directions?  It's HIM... it's my audience of One - and if He calls me to write - and it's just me and Him here on this blog... so be it!  As a bonus, if just one reader finds themselves here and they encounter Him... that is such a blessing! 

This blogging... this writing... (or this portrait-taking... or canvas painting... or any passion/hobby that has the potential to bring in income and become a career) - it can shift ever so slyly until the sheer joy of doing it is replaced with striving to succeed and constantly promoting and looking for trends and 'networking'...

For some, this really IS part of the call and there is nothing wrong with the business side of things.  But there is nothing wrong with it AS LONG AS it has not replaced your joy and passion with pressure and obligations. If it's robbing you, I can almost guarantee that you have forgotten that no matter how many subscribers you have, no matter who hangs your work in their office or home, buys your book, buys your (fill in the blank), the audience most important is always, always the One Who called you up on 'stage' to begin with!  

Whenever we simply turn our thoughts and our heart toward Him, we will find that He is always All In! 

There is no shadow of turning... and He is with you and FOR you. So whatever it is that you dream of doing... know that first and foremost,  He is your target audience... and He is already there - cheering you on!  

As you think about what that would look like; what that would sound like... may I encourage you to be a cheerleader for someone else today; to find someone who is DOING what it is that you are dreaming of doing and cheer them onward! We all fight against discouragement and questioning the call... may I encourage you to be His Voice to them. We are called to be One Body and as Dreamers - we reach much farther, when we reach together!  We need one another - not for comparison or competing, but for encouragement and uplifting!

To Speak Life... to Be Love... to Shine on... for them, and for your audience of One!

Who Dreams with you?  Who - along with the Lord - inspires you to press on? 
~Karrilee~

P.S.  I am linking up with Holley today and her community of God-Sized Dreamers! Click the button below to join in and find someone to cheer on!