Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books? Those stories were exciting to read. The story was always full of suspense and the adventure, intriguing. At the bottom of certain pages, there would be a choice to make. AND, those choices never seemed to be exactly what you would do but you had to make a choice. What to do next . . .
For me, it was always a dilemma to make those types of choices. I wanted to choose the best adventure. Should I flip to the next page or go deeper into the book? Which would be better? Did it matter? The beauty of these books was that you could read them again and again and never have the same thing happen.
Your Christian Business Ideas and the Christian life can be the same type of adventure. Just like those books, your choices have a direct influence on how the adventure goes.
We are going to look at making a choice to NOT keep flipping through the book again and again so the adventure changes BUT to really look at your life and your business with the FOCUS God wants you to have so you can make the impact He wants you to make.
Christian Business Ideas Choose Your Own Adventure
So, how does a kid’s adventure book fit into this chat? Well, it is all about choices, right? Maybe, you feel there are too many choices? Serving God can mean showing up for a volunteer opportunity at church. Learning about God by joining a Bible Study. Or, for more adventure, go on an overseas mission trip.
Think about the choices you have made that are making this Christian adventure exciting. As a Christian Businesswoman, you make choices every day.
God has so much more in store than you can imagine. He has created an adventure specifically for you and wants you to choose to be on the ride with Him. The adventure is daily and runs through your entire life, not just at times when you are with ‘God’s people’ learning and serving. God’s plan includes you serving Him daily, through your business.
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. –1 Corinthians 12:12 says,
That means we are all part of the same body. Your function is different from everyone else’s. Your adventure is exclusive to you. AND, you get to complete the picture, the STORY, God has for His Church, for His people, for you, by choosing to have a focus.
Focus on One Thing
When I got started in business, I was doing too many little things here and there. I was frustrated trying to build a business on too many small ideas. I knew I needed more focus on all of my Christian business ideas.
Are you good at doing a lot of things?
Yes, you are! At first, I was still playing with all these fragmented pieces of my business such as social media content, prioritizing my day, goal setting, action steps, retreats, and learning technology. I was offering all the things I knew how to do by just dripping it out little by little instead of having the impact I really wanted and knew God was calling me to do.
Then there was a shift. . . it happened first inside of me. (That’s the transformation part.) I asked God to help me have the impact I knew I could make, that I felt He was asking me to make. And, the only way for me to have that impact was to focus on ONE thing from all of the Christian business ideas and move forward from there.
Let The Ideas Flow
It started with my beliefs in myself and in God. I asked myself, What is true? What am I believing about myself? What am I believing about God? AND, more important. . . What do I believe God believes about me?
I encourage you to start here too. Ask yourself these questions and see what God reveals to you. Do it in a journal, on a whiteboard, or even on sticky notes. Get the answers out of your head so you can see them.
Answering these questions led me to the next part of my transformation. I asked myself. . . How has God designed me? Does that affect how I show up in my business? How does that affect how I connect to Him?
Let Your Focus Come Into View
Once I had these two sets of questions answered and understood my position in Christ, I wanted more. I needed to know what God wanted from me so to be focused my faith life had to grow.
Write out more than Yes/No to these questions. Take time to write out your WHY too.
- Do you want an intimate relationship with God?
- Is the vertical relationship with Him the most important thing in your life?
- Do you want to serve God by serving others through your business?
Only by knowing the answers to these questions did real focus come into view. By getting my beliefs about myself and God in order, understanding God’s unique design for me, and growing in my relationship with Him could I see it.
How? By inviting God into every day. For me, I started to spend more and more time with God. Digging into His Word, studying, and praying. Over time I knew what He wanted me to do, I knew how He wanted me to do it, and I knew He had given me the power to do it.
You Have Access To God’s Power
That power is really God’s power, the Holy Spirit living inside of me. I love that I have access to this power because it takes courage to live the way God is calling you and me to live as an entrepreneur.
It takes focus not only on the good things to do but on the best things to do, those best choices for your adventure. It takes focus on the goal God set for you to do the work He planned for you.
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. –Ephesians 2:10 says,
I have confidence that this ONE thing among all of those Christian business ideas will make an impact. When you make the choice to stop jumping around in your adventure and focus, you will make an impact too. It is one in a line of good things God planned for each of us and it is time to step into it.
Your Adventure Playground
Your business adventure really becomes the ‘playground’ to show God’s goodness in the marketplace.
For a few years, I led a group of Christian Businesswomen in a Bible/book club. We would take a book, usually business-related, and apply biblical principles to what we were reading.
One book we studied was about Spiritual Gifts and how they can be applied to the workplace. Each woman in the study was a business owner and each desired to live out her own Christian life adventure through her business.
This study revealed their top Spiritual Gifts and we discussed how each was or could be applied daily through their work and business.
Allow God to Use Your Gifts
Now, recognizing these Gifts can be a challenge; allowing God to use them is your choice. Within our small group, we had Administration, Teaching, Connecting, Pastoring, and Hospitality gifts. So much potential to be used to make an impact.
God wants you strong in Him and that includes a right view of Him (and yourself). It also includes clarity about how He created you with your gifts, talents, and abilities. Plus, continuing to learn growth strategies that connect your heart to Him.
Only THEN do you have a focus on what it is He wants you to do and how to serve Him through your business. Oh yeah, the best part? Blessings. God has promised them to those who study His commands and obey them.
Do you want to do MORE for God by having a FOCUS? Do you want to do the ONE thing among all of those Christian business ideas, have a business focus, instead of ‘working at’ all the things you are good at doing? Let’s bring the pieces together for you. Schedule a Clarity Conversation if you are ready to get focused and be transformed to have your ONE business focus.
Christian Life is an Adventure
The Christian life is a daily commitment to seeing your world through God’s eyes. Ask Him to help you choose the right next step. God is surprising and He will sometimes give you a choice that seems different than anything you would choose. That’s when He says, “Do you trust me with your adventure?”
Your story continues. You may not be able to go back and make a different choice in the adventure, but you can move forward in your story and make choices that create the Christian adventure God has for YOU. You are right where you need to be. Ride the adventure in His strength by connecting to Him. Your choices will be easy.
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