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Inspiration

You Still Should
By Joel Osteen - Jun 21, 2010
Not long ago after one of our church services, I met an 86-year-old woman who had something she really wanted to show me. She opened up a folder and handed me a certificate. It was her college degree that she had just received a few weeks earlier. This woman graduated from college at age 86! I asked her what made her decide to go back to school. She said, “As a young lady, I promised my mother that I would get my college degree.” I said, “Well, I’m sure your mom is up in heaven smiling down on you, as proud of you as she can be.” She said, “Yes, Joel. She’s very proud of me. But she’s not in heaven, she’s right over there.” I looked to my left and there was this 104-year-old mother smiling from ear to ear, waving her cane at me.

The daughter told how her whole life she had made excuses, “Mom, I can’t go back to college. I’m too busy.” Her mom wouldn’t hear it. “You still should.”

“Mom, I’ve got too many children to raise.”

“You still should.”

“Mom, I’m retired. I want to relax.”

“You still should.”

She said, “It took till I was in my 80’s, but my mother finally convinced me to go, and I’ve never felt better about myself than I do right now.”

Today, your heavenly Father is saying, “That dream you stopped pursuing, go after it again. Get rid of all the excuses.” Every other voice may tell you, “No way, it’s impossible.” But God is saying, “Take a step of faith and pursue that dream. Write that book. Go back to school. Launch that new website. You still should.”

No matter what obstacles you may be facing today, God still has a good plan for you. He placed those dreams and desires in your heart for a reason. If you’ll step out in faith today, God will meet you right where you are. He is faithful to His Word, and He promises to fulfill every desire He has placed in you!

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19, NIV).
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