Tag: #Dream

What’s your dream?

This question can be difficult to answer. Sometimes, the roar of the world dulls the whisper of the dream God has given us.

I want to assure you of something.

God has placed a dream in your heart. It might be dim right now, but if we ask God to fame the flame of the desire He wants us to fulfill, He will.

It’s in the fanning of this flame where God shows up in our lives. He is our Creator. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Psalm 139:13-14 (NLT) states, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”

We are loved so intimately by God because He blessed us into being. Think about how a piece of art is created. This doesn’t only include paintings or graphic design.

I’m talking about how God sees everything we do as art. He created us to be wonderfully complex and no one is exactly like the other. He built us for a unique purpose which only we can fulfill in His kingdom.

Our art is in response to His call, whether we know it or not. There are times when we have a longing to create. This longing is part of our need to have a relationship with God.

Our dreams are serving God.

Is there any higher mission than to do what God has called us to do? I would argue that working towards our dreams is putting God first in our lives. Now I want to create a caveat with this. I’m not endorsing letting our families go hungry or allowing all thoughts of cleanliness disappear.

No, I’m talking about pursuing God alongside the other blessings He’s put in our lives. Sometimes those little blessings won’t stop saying, “Mom, Mom, Mom, Moooooom” or our blessings could be family coming to visit and we need to madly clean the house while hoping the closet doesn’t pop open while our guests are in our home. Or is that just me? I can feel my husband cringing as I write this. (His life was incredibly neat and orderly until the typhoon of my life hit him.)

We deserve the dreams God has placed in our hearts. Problems may arise when we pursue our dream, then people come along and whisper doubt into our hearts.

They say, “Get a real job. No one is going to pay you for doing (fill in the blank here with your dream.) Or they say, “Isn’t it selfish of you to pursue your dream when your family needs you?” Or another nugget of unsolicited wisdom is, “Why can’t you just be content with what you have? Doesn’t God call you to be content?”

I’ve heard that pursuing our dreams is selfish. How could we spend time away from friends, family or opportunities at church to start working on our dream? Isn’t this exactly what God doesn’t want us to do? Are we supposed to be part of our community and push aside what isn’t serving others?

I call these people the dream stealers. They want to keep us in the box they have created for us, rather than encourage us to embrace the dream God has knit into our soul. Listen to God, not the doubters.

We honor God through working our dreams. He gave them to us in the first place.

Are you honoring God with your dream? How do you handle the dream stealers in your life? Share it in the comments below to encourage others.

Are you doing your dream? Are you taking steps on a consistent, daily basis to see it come to pass? Or are you hoping and praying something will change without much effort on your part? I know this may sound harsh, but what have you done for your dream lately?

When God puts a dream in our hearts, He expects some sort of action on our part. To what degree this action takes is up to us. This dream is our personal journey with God and what lessons He’s teaching us along the way.

Throughout the Bible, we see God asking for action before we see the blessing. Take the story of Joshua when he fought the Battle of Jericho. Instead of attacking the walls of the city, God told Joshua and his troops to march silently around the city for six days.

I’m pretty sure I couldn’t keep my lips sealed for 6 days, let alone 6 minutes. Yes, feel my husband’s pain as I talk his ear off, constantly.

Anyway, on the seventh day they were to blow their horns and shout. (This is the day I would have loved.) At the end of their action, came the victory. The walls crumbled and the Israelites took over the city of Jericho without losing a single member of the army.

It took of Joshua to see the promise of God come to pass. The beauty of each story in the Bible is it the person who would action God wanted them to take. Whether they believed it or not or ran the opposite direction of where God wanted them to go is another challenge.

The first step in doing our dream is being open to hearing God’s voice. Yes, in this day and age of constant connection, it seems almost impossible to hear the still small voice of God, but it’s essential to doing our dream. With God’s leading, we can cut out unnecessary tasks which will save us time, money, and heartache. God will not lead us astray with the dream He’s put in our heart. He wants us to succeed, to provide us a platform to share the unique story He’s given us.

It doesn’t matter if our dream is big or small by the world’s standards, it’s the precious dream between us and God which He wants to come to pass. Once we hear His voice, we need to go where He’s leading us.

The second step is to go with God. Where God tells us to go or do can sometimes be a bit out there or downright weird. During one of my quiet times, I felt the Lord asking me to bring something I had in my closet, brand new, still in the box to a friend. I can’t even say we are close friends. I was supposed to give this person what I had. Eventually, I planned to use this item, but I felt the pull to give it away. I was driving past person’s house anyway that day so God was making it convenient too.

Bummer.

I hesitantly knocked on her door, silently praying she wasn’t home so I could turn around and run back to my car. Instead, not only did she answer the door but the majority of her family was sitting in the living room, staring at me.

Awkward.

I put the item forward and said, “This is going to sound weird, but I felt like I was supposed to give this to you.”

She looked down at what I was handing over and tears formed in her eyes. Her response is one I will never forget.

“I’ve been praying for God to provide a way for me to afford this. Instead He brought you to give it to me. Thank you.”

Maybe her family was there so they could see the power prayer. Maybe they were in need of a little hope. I don’t know. What I do know is that when I did what God was leading me to do, even though it seemed weird and way out of my comfort zone, I was able to bless someone and be their answer to prayer. When God asks us to move, we have the ability to give others what they need.

Pursuing your dream may be the blessing someone desperately needs. Move when and where God is asking you to go. When you’ve moved, be thankful. You’ve done your part, leave the results to God, whatever those are.

After I dropped off the items to my friend, I was so thankful for the blessing I received in response. I thanked God that I heard His voice and responded the way He asked. Each time we follow this process, God gives us a little more responsibility and gives us a little more motivation for doing our dream.

Have you listened to where God is leading you and taking the steps to follow through? If so, give thanks and share in the comments below so we can celebrate with you.