Dreams

Dreams can be scary.  I'm not talking about the dreams you have at night (although they can rock your world), but those dreams that God places in each one of us to motivate us to live a life fully alive.  Those dreams that when pursued, cause us to say, "This is what I was made for!"

Each one of us is created by God with these dreams, yet few of us truly live them out.  We sense the dreams, but in our fear we minimize or hide them.  We doubt the need they will fulfill.  We allow other things and people to take priority.  So we slowly begin to pack the dreams away.  We tell ourselves that we will get back to them when we have more time or are better prepared to execute them.  Soon, we find that we have packed them away somewhere deep inside.  We hope that we can be satisfied without the dreams.....satisfied with our safe, comfortable routines like everyone else.

That's what happened to me.  I knew that God had great plans for me.  I knew that He would use my life and my experiences to bring Him glory and praise.  And for a while, I tried to follow His lead and pursue my dreams.  But then the moving started......

Slowly, like my possessions, I began to pack my dreams away.  The moves shook my confidence in who I was and to whom I belonged.  I doubted my abilities, my significance, my call.  So I packed my dreams away.  Although, I did keep a small part out, hoping it would satisfy; hoping it would be enough.  It wasn't.

But God...

He is not satisfied to let us pack away our dreams to be forever forgotten.  He knows their importance, not only for us, but for others, and for His glory.

But God...

He will use circumstances and people to remind us of our dreams; our desire for more.  He will challenge the comfortable existence we have created.

That is what God has done.  He has brought me to a place of emptiness, loneliness, and dissatisfaction.  A place where I knew a part of me was missing.....my dreams.

But dare I look for them?  Dare I pursue them?  Dare I share them?

But God...

A conversation with my oldest daughter reminded me of my dreams.  Then she and my husband dared me to find the box where I had packed my dreams away.  They dared me to look inside, take out its contents, and share it with them.  As I began to do that, I felt the life begin to come back to those once dead places in my heart.  I heard God remind me again, "I have great plans for you!"

So this is the journey of unpacking my dreams and bravely pursuing the call God has given to me.  My hope and prayer is that what I share here will encourage others to be brave; to pursue the full life God has for them.  And that through this process God will receive all the praise, honor, and glory.