PODCAST #338 
HOW TO CHASE A DREAM WITHOUT BEING DISCOURAGED


Discouragement doesn't have to derail you from your dreams when you focus instead of the delight of chasing the dream itself. 
About A Confident Spirit, Our Quick-Hit, Faith-Focused Episodes:  
A confident spirit is our bonus weekly confidence podcast that is meant to bring you a brief, but deep blessing to your confidence growth. In these micro episodes you'll get a quick hit of confidence coaching for your soul. These episodes are faith-based and intended to help you with clear and practical ways to fill your soul with confidence as you grow in your relationship with God. For me, the core and essence of all my confidence comes from Him. It is God who freed me from my insecurities, who fills me with worth as a daughter of the king, and who gives me the gift to walk in peace and joy all the days of my life. If you want to grow a more confident spirit, these faith-focused episodes are for you ... let's dive in, shall we?
Thought of the Week:
Delight is detached from the outcome. 

 It doesn’t need an objective, a finish line, or a planned element to it. 

 If you haven’t recently spent time with a two-year-old at the beach, allow me to paint you a picture of the beautiful disaster it is.

The entire objective is to tire your child out, while also keeping them alive and not getting fried by the sun. This is a delicate mission, as the best time of the day for this is midday, also the hottest part of the day.

You can forget hoping for a free minute to sit down, or the fantasy of being able to sit in the shade of an umbrella. An eternal optimist, I still always bring a book and magazine with me. Just in case, I tell myself.

But, truth is, with a two-year-old, you move the whole time.

Recently, during a four-hour jaunt on the beach with my son Baker I managed to rack up 22,000 steps in the sand alone. People compliment me all the time on how fit my legs look. Some of it is from running, and some is from being a parent to two very active kids. What can I say, I’m always looking for a silver lining to the things that inconvenience me or exhaust me.

Now, back to things that exhaust me: small kids at the beach.

My little guy has a system.

First, he would run full speed towards the ocean. Next, he would belly flop into a crashing wave, sometimes to successfully pick himself back up, and other times to be tossed around in the surf, needing rescue.

Clean and wet, he liked to run back up the beach to our stuff, grab his toy truck, and take off full speed towards every neighboring beach-goer peacefully reading a book.

Waving to the readers and garnishing the smiles of new fans, he would then push his truck full speed towards anyone nearby building sandcastles. Seeing a target, the truck gets abandoned and Baker becomes a Godzilla-like monster, rushing towards the delicate masterpieces, and me sprinting to get ahead of him to block the way.

Averted, it turns into a game of tag and chases with us, leading us back to his beloved and faithful truck. He pushes the truck for ten minutes, and then the cycle starts over. He pauses to yell out “boat” or “airplane” to anyone passing by and stops to show his truck to the constant flow of beach walkers at the edge of the water where he plays.

Baker’s truck captures his heart.

It has his full attention.

Except when a sandpiper shows up.

When the sandpipers arrive on the scene, everything gets abandoned and Baker chases them.

The way he runs is different than the way he runs after anything else. He runs with delight. The smile on his face is curious and elated, simultaneously convinced that he will catch said little sandpiper.

He obviously never does, but he never stops trying.

A little boy with an excessively expressive face not once does disappointment flash across his face. Instead, an ear-to-ear grin takes up most of his face.

When the bird flies away, he stops dead in his tracks. Looks up to the sky,