I read a story about this incredible opera singer named Jenny Lind.  She was known as "The Swedish Nightingale."  She became one of the wealthiest artist of her time, yet she left the stage at her peak and never returned.

Countless people wondered why in the world she would leave the stage at this point in her career. Why would she leave the fame, fortune, and applause?  However she was very content to live in privacy in a home by the sea.

One day a friend found her on the beach, her Bible on her knees, looking out into a beautiful sunset.  As they talked the friend asked her how is it that she ever came to abandon the stage at the height of her success?

She answered, "When every day it made me think less of this (laying her finger on her Bible) and nothing at all of that (pointing to the sunset), what else could I do?

The world may never understand your decision to follow God.  But then, perhaps God cannot understand a decision to pursue what the world offers when He has such great rewards in store for those who follow him.

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