Living Out Your Potential

I’ve always felt something from within me pushing me and telling me I am destined for something great. It’s almost felt like a tug, like a press upon my heart. And sometimes I can get so caught up in what that “big thing” might be that I forget to enjoy what great things God is using me for today. I forget what potential I possess that I could be using in the moment.

Potential. I think we have to be careful about that word. Yes, you may have potential that is not yet fully developed… but I also think there’s a good chance that the potential you have can be used today. That maybe you’ve been sitting on what you have for far too long and not given the world a chance to see what you have to give.

I recently went to meet up with an advisor and ask for some advice regarding an idea. During our visit, he asked me what things I was working on. I hadn’t even planned on showing him or talking about any dreams or big projects that were going on in my head, but after he asked, I pulled up a project I had formulated, crafted, and planned out but had not yet released.

He looked at it, looked up at me, and then asked why in the heck I hadn’t released it to the world yet. I shrugged my shoulders. Fear, I thought. What if no one’s interested in it? What if someone doesn’t like it?

I shared some of those thoughts with him. He then spoke this truth, “Madison, you’ve got nothing to lose. This looks amazing. Now just go for it! Try it! The world needs this.”

I also came across this verse in Proverbs 20, “Form your purpose by asking for counsel, then carry it out using all the help you can get.”

That next day I launched the project, the positivity pack, with the world and I had over 100 people wanting to do the challenge! We are now on week 2 with those that made it in the challenge, and those people have been impacted in big ways and have made positive changes in their lives!

But here’s the thing with this story - I could have lived and sat on the potential of what the positivity pack could have been. I could have never released it with the world just because of the fear of it not reaching the full potential I knew it could have. The same thing went for the book I wrote last year.

If we aren’t careful, we can go our whole lives falling into the trap of believing there is always something bigger around the corner and that today’s potential is simply not enough. That our potential in this moment is not enough.

Understand these truths:

You’ve got to plant a seed.

God is going to help you bear fruit. He is going to help you grow and flourish and nurture. But He is not going to help you bear fruit if you won’t plant the darn seed. There is an element of action that we must take in order for us to carry out what God has set in front of us.

Proverbs 24 says this, “First plant your fields; then build your barn.”

What is shown has to be sown.

I’m not saying everything you try will be successful. I’m not saying you won’t fail. I’m not saying it won’t take a few tries… but what is shown has to be sown. You’ve got to be willing to get down in the ground and plant your seed. And when one seed doesn’t work, try another.

As Proverbs 21 says, “Do your best, prepare for the worst - then trust God to bring victory.”

You may have to cast your net to the other side.

Peter and some of the disciples in John 21 stayed out all night without catching a single fish. When morning came, Jesus called out from the shore, asking if they had caught anything. They told him how they had nothing. Jesus told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”

When they did that, they were unable to haul the net in because there were so many fish.

Here’s the thing with that story - they would not have caught all those fish if they weren’t out fishing. When we take action on the things that are on our hearts, God will reveal which way to go in the middle of it. But we can’t get to the middle when we don’t have a beginning.

Living out your potential takes process.

Potential without process is like an uneaten DQ birthday cake. It’s a waste. Process is needed for potential to be lived out. God can’t get us out the door if we don’t get out of bed.

As Proverbs 20 says, “wake up, and get up.” It’s time to go. There is work to be done. Take action, my friend. 

There is potential today to be lived out.