Have you ever heard the ocean calling to you through a seashell?

Maybe you’ve never held a shell to your ear, but you know your gifts and talents are intended to serve someone out in the sea of humanity. If the second is so, then you’ve most definitely heard the Spirit whisper through the shell.

Bon Voyage is all about setting sail once the calling has settled in your soul.

It’s about pushing away from the pier and daring to venture out into the unknown. It’s about risking what feels safe, normal, predictable in pursuit of your God-given dream.

And what if your gift or talent is only intended for a modest audience? Is setting sail into the great unknown still worth it for the one?

I say yes! If Jesus left the 99 for the 1, if he gave his life that the one may find eternal life, then shouldn’t we pursue whatever the Lord has stirred our hearts to do even if the impact is modest at best? What is God calling you to pursue?

• Finish that college degree or get your GED?
• Write a book or write a thank you card to a friend?
• Change careers or stay in your job so you can encourage your colleagues?
• Become a worship leader or sing a song to the Lord while in the shower?
• Travel to a foreign land or walk across the street to encourage your neighbor?

The voyages most grand in the Lord’s eyes are those done from a willing and loving heart. They don’t have to be great according to what our culture holds in high esteem. They don’t have to give us fame or fortune to be meaningful. They can be so seemingly simple—reading a bedtime story to a child or teaching a student to write, taking the time to visit your aging parents or contacting a lonely friend.

Or in my case, painting a picture of a young woman who has heard the ocean calling to her through a conch shell. A young woman who, while in her youth, dared to become a missionary in foreign lands. A young woman who is now entering the fall season of her life and hears the ocean calling to her once again. This time, the rumbling in her soul is to publish multiple manuscripts that are packed away in the hull of her heart and computer.

The voyage terrifies her because she’s ventured out on a similar journey and knows the time, effort, and cost involved. Yet she can no longer ignore the nagging whispers that perhaps, just perhaps, her books are meant for someone out there who is crying out to God for hope. Someone in need of encouragement. Someone who is waiting for God’s promised in Jeremiah 29:11 to be fulfilled:

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’

So, here’s to hearing the call!
Here’s to risking safety and security!
Here’s to pushing away from the pier!
Here’s to selling all to buy the *Pearl of Great Price!
Here’s to seeing through eyes of faith and following!
Here’s to navigating the great unknown by the great Spirit of the unknown.
Here’s to setting sail into the sea of humanity because you dared to believe in your
Bon Voyage!

For more inspiration, visit Create with Joy.

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