I recently watched a message by Christine Caine called Anointing vs. Gifting. She used 35mm film to illustrate how we have to allow God to take us through a process in order to develop us into the people He created us to be. She is speaking to a group of worship leaders, but it’s a great message for anyone and I highly recommend it.

Another thing she mentioned was her busy schedule and how the 20-somethings that travel with her tell her they are exhausted trying to keep up with her. Her only explanation for how she is able to keep up is that “you will have a grace for your race.”

This made me think of a few people I know that have some crazy busy schedules. Each of them have several avenues of income, and I’ve always thought… Man, I don’t know how they do that. I don’t think I could ever have more than one job for an extended period of time. But this is their life, and they still make time for a social life.

“You will have a grace for your race.” -Christine Caine

Then a friend of mine had me watch a video she saw on Facebook. It was a man that calls himself “Uncle Luck” giving an answer to a very similar question about why he went from having one good job to several businesses and jobs. His answer blew my mind.

(Disclaimer: I’ll have to paraphrase, because he talks VERY cajun and I’m not sure I could properly quote him in a way that could be understood by all. Also, you can find the video here, but he does cuss a bit in the video so if you don’t like to hear cussing, then I would suggest not watching it.)

He said, “Never put all your eggs in one basket. See it’s always good to have multiple things that you do. So if your job lays you off, you can still hold on. You can still make ends meet. You can still sustain a little bit, you understand? When you give one job the power of controlling your whole life, and if they lay you off, you fall into a depression, then guess what? You didn’t maximize the gift that God gave you in life. Everyone has some type of talent or some type of gift that could bring them some money. The problem is we don’t believe we’re good enough.”

Now, I have always lived my life thinking that life was all about finding that one career that you could see yourself retiring from and sticking with it. But this made so much sense to me. It also helps make sense of the fact that there are so many things that I like to do, but don’t care to do them full-time.

I love to bake cookies and would love to have my own bakery one day, but I don’t want to do that for the rest of my life. I love to paint and would love to paint something good enough to sell, but I don’t want to spend my whole life painting and hoping. I love computer work, but my eyes tell me all the time that I need to not be on a computer 24/7. I love to write, but I also know that I could easily get bored with it and how hard it is to get published.

Watching those videos and realizing all of the things I love to do reminded me of my trip to Washington D.C. a year and half ago. I went with a group of friends to Awaken the Dawn in 2017. One night, there were two ladies that prayed over me and two of my friends. When it was my turn, one lady prayed and then another jumped in to tell me what she felt like the Lord was showing her. At the time, I didn’t really understand what they were telling me, but looking back it all makes perfect sense. They said several things, and maybe that will be another post for another day, but only one thing sticks out.

The second lady said that she saw what looked like a tool belt wrapped around me. In the tool belt were all different kinds of tools, and she could see me taking out one at time to be used. But God wanted me to take them all out and use them at the same time.

I won’t lie. At the time, I thought she was a little crazy. But right now, in this moment, I totally get it. Baking cookies is a tool. Writing is a tool. Painting is a tool. Computer work is a tool.

I still don’t know how many tools I have, but I’m starting to believe that maybe I can use them all at one time. I can hold down a full-time job and do all of these things on the side for fun. So why can’t I hold down a full-time job and do all of these things on the side to make a little extra money? It could help me pay off my debt faster. It could help me go on a bucket-list vacation. It could help me save a down payment for a home. I know right now the extra money would be minimal, but it’s still more than what I’m making now doing all of those things.

I guess the only thing I can do is move forward with what I feel like God has given me and see what happens. If it’s what I’m supposed to be doing, then He will give me the grace to run the race. There’s really nothing stopping me… expect me.