I’m sharing about my e-book, Mindset for Moms, this week–if you missed it, head here to read yesterday’s post.

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I spun around on the tree swing, full of praise. One hand holding the rope, one hand lifted in awe, a grin on my face.

Amazed by God’s goodness.

I had dared to dream of a new house for my family. A place where we could love, learn, and fulfill His calling. But my dream was too good, too specific, too unlikely. So I let it go, trusted, remained content.

He had turned around and given the dream, in all its fulfillment, right back.

But why was I surprised? Isn’t goodness and mercy part of the territory when it comes to His character?

Christians tend to have a flawed mindset about God. We seem to believe that if we surrender and say yes, that He can’t wait to do the most awful things to us–to make our lives miserable in the name of character development.

How could we dare to think this about our loving Father? Is this how we feel toward our own children? Hardly. I am a wildly imperfect mother, yet I always search for ways to bless my little ones.

In the timeless classic A Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life, Hannah Whitall Smith tackles this skewed viewpoint of God:

“He is our Father, and He loves us, and He knows just what is best, and therefore, of course, His will is the very most blessed thing that can come to us. I do not understand how it is that Satan has succeeded in blinding the eyes of the Church to this fact.

But it really would seem as if God’s own children were more afraid of His will than of anything else in life; His lovely, lovable will, which only means loving-kindnesses and tender mercies, and blessings unspeakable to their souls.”

My family and I have made life choices that many would consider crazy and uncertain. Here are a few:

• adopted a sick infant who nearly died, my son Elijah from Liberia
• adopted an older child with special needs, my daughter Trishna from India
• became missionaries and lived fully off of the financial support we raised
• moved cross-country to work against one of the darkest issues of our time, child sex trafficking and exploitation

I write this list not out of pride about our decisions, quite the opposite. We wanted to do these things, and it is easy to do what we want to do!

That’s the thing about God–when we offer our dreams to Him, He makes us want to do His will. This enables us to move forward in joy and confidence, even when we face life’s inevitable challenges.

When we change our mindset about God, we can dream again. And we need not fear giving those dreams to Him, for we’ll find His dreams for our lives even better than those we could ever have imagined for ourselves.

“You parents–if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask him.” Matthew 7 : 9-11

A Special Offer for (in)courage readers:

Any (in)courage reader who buys Mindset for Moms in any format (PDF, Kindle, Nook, or iTunes) can receive a FREE PDF version of my first book, Steady Days (a $9 value).

To take advantage of this offer, simply send me an email after your purchase with the subject line “I bought Mindset for Moms” and I’ll respond within a few days. Offer valid through July 31, 2012.

GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment with your response to this statement to be entered to win a copy of Mindset for Moms. (Two winners today.)

“If I wasn’t afraid, I would ask God for _______________.”

My answer? “If I wasn’t afraid, I would ask God for a new opportunity.”

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