You can ask God for anything you want; you can dream; you can hope; you can believe he has your best life in mind, but the bottom line is that his plans are better and his dreams go higher than yours.

So when you next talk to God and you totally trust the depths of his love for you, add his will to your list of hopes and dreams, because when you ask for anything based on that and you’re ready to fully surrender and obey, you’ll come out richer.

Don’t get all religious and poverty-stricken over it though.

This is where so many have missed God’s best in the past–they’ve assumed that God’s best means possibility living in near poverty or becoming celibate. That’s how the nuns thought that Fridays should be for self-flagellation–they wanted to beat themselves to a pulp to prove their love and devotion. I think a lot of people who made these assumptions didn’t know God’s heart all that well.

Yes, you might end up on the 11th floor in a dicey apartment in Thailand and your job is to get rid of the corruption in the church there so they can serve their people in love, so you’re never the flavor of the month. But you also might end up as a policy maker whereby you get to be the one who makes sure all people get the healthcare they need at a reasonable price. Or you become the next coworker who people come to for encouragement and advice because they feel safe in your presence. Or you become part of the reason why homelessness becomes wiped out in your town.

So don’t limit God, but don’t assume, either, he’s going to drop you into the lions’ den.

He’s going to set you in place where you can do your thing well and where his love can be seen and felt in the most effective way through you…. IF you make sure you know his voice and you’re fully in tune with his will.

Surrender and obedience are not dirty words. They are the path to living your best life right now and forever, but start that path by learning how to know his heart of love.

Because love is the foundation God’s builds everything on.