God-sized Dreams

Where Dreams Set Sail

Beneficiary of a Dream

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She dreamed of dancing with the New York City Rockettes. As a child, her mother put her into tap, jazz, and ballet lessons along with her older brother. He had contracted a mild case of polio, and the doctors said dance would help him regain his strength.

She danced year round until she was 18 and graduating from high school, but her dream of the Rockettes and NYC wouldn’t become a reality. She wouldn’t even audition. It was no use. She was an inch shorter than their required minimum height.

So her dreams shifted from New York and dancing to a secretarial job and life in the big city of Washington, DC, still a far cry from the small country town outside of Pittsburgh that she called home.

It was in DC that she met my Dad. A Puerto Rican transplant from Brooklyn, he was also a far cry from any of the small town boys she had known. Within a year they were married, and shortly after I joined them.

I don’t remember Mom talking much about dreams. What I do remember was how she lived life oblivious to boundaries. She created something from nothing all the time. My dad tells stories of coming home from work to find her painting rocks with me and my little sister. Meals were always special occasions no matter how simple. I remember themed birthday parties, Norman Rockwell-esque holidays complete with flaming plum pudding, and gorgeous wedding flowers three times over.

Mom didn’t know how to be a florist, but she knew how to create beauty. So when we were looking for ways to save money on my wedding, she took a look at some silk floral bouquets and said “I can do that!” And she did . . . for me and dozens of other happy brides over the last twenty-six years. She went on to build a successful floral design business and made dreams come true for many DC metro area brides. Her last two brides were our daughter Emily and daughter-in-law Kim at their weddings last year.

Mom’s dreams were all about what she could create to bless the people around her. {<==click to tweet} She was diagnosed with cervical cancer last August. After a hysterectomy in the fall, she slowed down just long enough to get back to her busy life of visiting nursing homes, leading a Bible study, mentoring younger women, and sharing with almost everyone her love of God. Sometimes she shared it with words and at other times with thoughtful actions.

Early this year her cancer returned and by August it was pronounced terminal. During her last months, she was in a lot of pain. But in December at our son Josh & Kim’s wedding, she had fallen in love with the hymn “In Christ Alone” and had begun choreographing a dance to it. She was scheduled to perform it at her church’s women’s retreat in October of this year. Mom wouldn’t live that long.

Most days she hurt too much to practice her dance, but one day this summer she was feeling well enough to show it to the women in her Bible study, and one of them videoed it. Her cane is in the background leaning against a chair as she dances gently and haltingly but with passion. We showed the video at her memorial service.

Mom’s dream of dancing never really went away. She had dreamed of performing with an esteemed troupe in front of an equally esteemed New York City crowd. Her dreams shifted as she married and raised two daughters. Her love of God and people led her to help them fulfill their dreams. {<==click to tweet}

And on September 10, 2014 at 9:15 am, Mom danced before the King of Glory, as her God-sized dream came true.

Proverbs 16:9 tells us “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

As we learn to acknowledge the passions and dreams God has placed in our hearts, fear often taunts us with the idea that things might not work out and then it will all be for nothing . . . the plans, the work, the hope, the dream.

But if our dreams come from our God and are pursued for Him, they will always work out for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

Mom’s dreams at 65 looked nothing like they did at 18. I don’t doubt she felt discouraged when they “failed” along the way. But as I reflect on her life, I’m struck with the realization that the life of a person that dreams and loves God and others at the same time leaves a wake of inspiration and influence that keeps on spreading even after that life is gone.

Maybe our God-sized dreams are truly about all those along the way who are touched by our God through our dream. 

The New Face of Brave

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Go on, jump, jump!  C’mon, everyone else is doing it!  JUMP!!!  They yell at her standing on the precipice of the cliff staring at the waters below.  Something in her warns, You shouldn’t jump.  You should not  jump.  This is not the right choice for you.

So she steps back despite their heckling and jeers.  Chicken, they charge.

But sometimes bravery is not jumping.  {===>Click to Tweet}

Sometimes bravery looks like saying no.

Sometimes bravery means stepping out of the throngs pressing you into a choice and saying, This isn’t for me.  I’m not scared.  I’m wise. 

There’s a difference.  Risk taking can be just as much standing up against the tidal wave of pressure and stopping the momentum.  In fact, that is often the face of brave.  Challenging gravity.  The tide.  The force of public opinion.  Accepting the possibility of anger or ridicule or alienation.

I’ve written a lot about risk when it comes to leadership.  But we don’t always talk about what the risk looks like.  In fact, one of my favorite quotes likens risks to jumping off a ski slope.  What if risk was turning around when the slope was beyond you?  What if you could endanger those coming up behind you by foolishly launching off a slope that wasn’t skiable?

All too often we fear what we might look like if we step backwards, scale back, take a time out.  Don’t you always have to be jumping or climbing or sailing to be brave?

No.

That’s not always the face of brave.  I am learning, slowly, that bravery can mean saying, No, I won’t go.  This is the wrong choice for me.  I leave your decision in your hands, but the choice for me is to stop.

I wrote here last month that I thought God was calling me to a quieter season.  It’s funny how even that has changed in the past month.  It’s looking like God may be leading me to a “homier” season which is more local but possibly not that much quieter.  Regardless of the noise level, my dream has become less about standing on a stage speaking to thousands and more about kneeling before God to say, I will do whatever you ask.  (That is still so scary to me, that I deleted the line several times trying to make it sound less definitive.)

That means in addition to turning down speaking engagements and travel, stepping off of boards, and spending more time with my family and in my neighborhood, I’m being asked to step away from serving in this space.  This past year has been a gift.  A dreamer’s gift.  To serve on a team that has become my family.  To have folks I’ve never met cheer me on and to be able to encourage you as you dream boldly, fearlessly, and most of all, bravely.  Some of you have even modeled for me how bravery can mean changing course or standing still or, gasp, even stepping away.

Thank you for having me.  I will continue to cheer you on {===>Click to Tweet}, and thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.  (Colossians 1)

Shared by: Gindi Vincent

Photo Credit: Masa Sakano

The Dream Versus The Dream-Giver

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Sometimes we have to be willing to give something up to God in order to get it back from God…God will test us to make sure the gift isn’t more important than the Gift Giver, the dream isn’t more important to us than the Dream Giver. He’ll test us to make sure it’s not an idol.  If it is, that dream, gift, or desire might need to die so that it can be resurrected. But God often takes things away to give them back so that we know they are gifts to be stewarded for his glory.

Mark Batterson, Draw The Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge

It finally arrived.  The professionally edited video of a 25 minute keynote address I gave to a large women’s conference in May.  I was so excited.  I’d been visiting with an executive coach who speaks nationally, and she shared that was the piece missing from my website.  At long last, the missing piece.

I love to speak at conferences.  I put on my game face (aka heavier make up than I’d wear out of the house) and my game uniform (which nearly always involves stockings – yuck!), and I head out with queasy stomach and rattling nerves.  But then I get up on stage to speak and I love it.  The endorphins kick in and the audience engages, and I’m on a high for hours afterwards.

The funny thing is, I’m an introvert.  No really, I am a serious introvert by any test account.  I hate walking into rooms of people I don’t know. I won’t approach someone and start up a conversation.  I know none of my neighbors.  I never make small talk with the grocery clerk.  Yet put me on a stage and I feel like I’m home (even though only five minutes prior I thought I’d need to throw up).

This year, God has opened some unbelievable doors for me to speak to big and small crowds both in Texas and outside of my home state.  Each time a bigger opportunity arose, I’d call two of my fellow sailors here and say YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT GOD DID TODAY!?!?!?!

So when I began Mark Batterson’s 40 Day Prayer Circle a few weeks ago, I didn’t have anything specific to circle in prayer except for my family and… I circled this one little phrase in the front of my book, “spacious place.”  God had recently been bringing me to II Samuel 22 and Psalm 18, “He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”

I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but it was interesting that one week into the devotional I spent nine days in Alaska for work.  I didn’t know God would literally bring me into a spacious place.  But as I sat with Him there, in the midst of clouds clinging to mountains and vast waters, I sensed a very clear instruction.  One I was not prepared for nor even convinced I could make out such a specific instruction.  This was the instruction: no speaking engagements for the first quarter of 2015.

Um, I’m sorry.  What God?  I think you have me mixed up with someone else.  You’ve called me to speak.  Specifically called me this and given me a gift to execute your calling.  Did you forget that God?

Then the speaking requests came rolling in.  Three within a week from different groups in different locations from Tampa to New Orleans.  I actually called a friend one day and said, “did He mean ALL speaking requests?”

As soon as I left her that message I read the quote I began with: He’ll test us to make sure it’s not an idol.

Ouch.  I was chasing my dream instead of chasing after the Dream Giver.  {===>Click To Tweet}  So it was time to lay it down.  I said no graciously (God had ironically put The Best Yes in my hands at the same time) and connected the event planners to other wonderful speakers (which made me lay down a whole other prideful part of myself).

God sometimes requires us to lay down our dream, even the dream He placed on our heart, in order to know Him more.  {===>Click to Tweet} In order to prepare for the season to come.  In order to refocus on the Giver instead of the gift.  To prepare, like Abraham did with Isaac, to lay something precious in the altar to show that we are willing to follow Him no matter the cost.

I cried when I had to write out the third no.  The reality is, there will be other tests and more no’s to come.  But I had begun to drive the dream, to return to my Type A planning self and do it all on my own, and I was slipping further away from His vision and plan for my life.

So my spacious place will be a quiet one.  As He calls me away from so many things for this season.  But I am confident of this: that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it (Phil. 1:6) and that He does immeasurably more than all I could ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within me (Eph. 3:20).

Shared by: Gindi Vincent

For a Season

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I watched the two of them walk ahead of me for the almost-two-block distance to our house.

For the last time.

Hands clasped, any passerby would have believed they’d been friends for so much longer than a month.

And I thought back for a few moments…

It was a normal, early-June day, and a girl from the neighborhood, one I’d seen a few times, rode her bike down our sidewalk. My four-year-old was playing on her swing set, and I watched as the girl slowed her bike and came to a stop.

That was the only invitation my Mae needed.

Running over to her, she greeted her already-friend, and the two of them were playing together in seconds.

A few weeks later, her mom stopped by and chatted with me while our daughters played again. Though I’d talked with her a handful of times in our four years on Wisconsin Street, this was the first time we’d talked in depth.

And it was in that conversation she mentioned she and her daughter were moving several states away at the end of July.

My heart felt a little pinch as I realized this new friendship for my daughter (and for me) was only for a short season.

And I realized that there have been times in life when I’ve questioned the seasons God gives us.

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In early July, my husband and I found out we were expecting a baby at the beginning of March.

A new season…a new hope, and we were so excited.

I took a belly shot right away, started watching everything I ate, was getting my workouts in…I was trying so hard to make sure I did everything right. We couldn’t wait to welcome this new little one into our lives.

Then, just a few weeks later…it was over.

At first there was the shock. The grief. The tears. The normal things that come with any loss.

But then came the wondering. And the questioning. Why, God? Why would you give us this little one to love for only a short season?

To be honest, as I pound out these words just a few weeks after we lost our sweet one, I still don’t have an answer. I might never have one.

But I do know, even as I look back at what He has taught me through many years of transition…from the unexpected adventures that took us to parts unknown to the beautiful bliss of calling a place home…is this.

To everything there IS a season…even dreams. (<====Tweet this.)

Sometimes we dream big and we chase wildly, and those dreams still don’t happen. 

In those moments, it’s so easy…So. Very. Easy…to doubt. To question. To wonder what His purpose may have been in all of it.

Because the hard Truth? Is that there is always a reason.

A plan…His.

A lesson…to help us grow in Him.

A promise…to remind us of His goodness.

So my heart still feels that little pinch when I see my daughter walk past her friend’s house and talk about how much she misses her. Sometimes she cries.

And the ache resurfaces when I think of my empty belly and the life we so wanted in our arms…but the one that is now safe in Jesus’ arms instead. And sometimes I cry, too.

And a sweet sadness comes when we remember what’s been…and might never be again. And, oh, how the tears flow.

But we do know His promise.

To everything there is a season…and we wait and trust that this season will bring beauty. (<====Tweet this.)

Sweet dreamer, I don’t know where you are in your dreaming today. Maybe you’ve felt the sting of rejection or the pain of loss. Maybe you’re struggling with unanswered questions or doubting because you just can’t see.

Maybe you just don’t understand the season He has you in.

Let’s trust Him together.

 How can I pray for you and the season of your dream today?

Shared by: Mel Schroeder

When Your Dream Feels Broken

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It was one of those slow-motion moments. I hurried through the kitchen, setting my empty mug on the counter as I walked. My fingers didn’t let go quite fast enough, and I felt the mug slide toward the edge.

“Nooooooo!” (Insert mental image of crazed woman moving in slow motion trying to rescue her favorite coffee mug.)

Crash! The mug lay in shards on the ground. Not the kind that fit neatly back together with glue and patience. Nope. Think splinters, dust, say goodbye, and “where’s the dustpan?” kind of shards.

My eleven year old son Sam watched silently as I bent to clean up the mess. He knew this wasn’t just any mug. This was my Winsome mug. The one the potter made for our retreat, and when I asked him to make more said he was no longer doing custom work. That irreplaceable mug.

As I dumped the shards into the garbage, Sam quietly sidled up to me and gave me a hug.

“I’m sorry, Mom. But I bet you’ll get a good blogpost out of it.” The kid knows me well.

The bottom of the mug was still in one piece, although, with a hairline crack across it’s middle, it would never serve my morning coffee ritual again. I solemnly laid it to rest beside my cracked pot and wondered why brokenness seems to be a running analogy in my life.

If I’m honest, the mug was a pretty good representation of where my heart had been regarding Winsome the last few months. After two years of hosting and directing the retreat I’d dreamed of for years, I didn’t want to admit it, but my God-sized dream felt broken. Limping along in need of cast and crutches. Hardly up to task.

The enthusiasm I had known before was gone. My doubts were bigger than my confidence. And when I thought about planning next year’s retreat, I felt anything but strong.

All this led to some serious soul searching. And the result began to reorient my dream to its proper place.

In You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream, Holley Gerth writes,

. . . success is not about results. It’s about a relationship. . . What [God] wants on this journey to your dream is intimacy with you. Success is simply this: obedience.

Dreams are an expression of our relationship with God. {<===click to tweet} That relationship might find another expression, or the expression might change.

Our dreams may thrive, or they might break.

Either way, God is working through our dreams to strengthen our relationship with Himself. And either way, what matters most in the end and all along the way is our relationship with Him.

God-sized dreams are a means to an end, and that end is to conform us to the image of Jesus.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory,
are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
~2 Corinthians 3:18

Like all the circumstances of our lives, our dreams are tools to accomplish God’s purposes in and through us. And sometimes broken tools work best, as they reveal power in weakness and the skill of the master craftsman. {<===click to tweet}

Shared by: Kim Hyland

The Dream in Front of Me

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It’s a slow morning, the kind when we don’t need to go anywhere.

I’ll always take one of those. 🙂

Our morning routine is often the same…I’m up early for quiet time and (most days!) a good workout. I get the coffee going and have my first of many a few cups.

She sleeps until about 7 a.m. and then greets the day, usually with howling or singing…and though I sometimes grumble when I hear those first signs that she’s up, the truth is that I LOVE her exuberance at the thought of a new sunrise and the life that awaits in the coming day.

Part of this routine is the same, too…up for breakfast and a bit of TV while this mama finds the coffee (again) and sits at her computer to pound words and paragraphs that might just form a post.

And so, on this particularly slow morning, I find myself sinking even further into our routine.

I look up, startled by the clunk of the mailbox. (Yes, our mail comes early.) 😉

How is it 9:00 already?

I peek into the living room to see her sprawled on the couch…almost a zombie…munching the last of her Apple Jacks from the bowl, eyes glued to Jake and the Never Land Pirates.

And I? Have just woken up from my own little zombie state, too…definitely not a useless daze, but one in which I remained for far too long.

I try to pull myself out of it, get up, and give her the warning that when Jake is over, it’s time to turn off the TV and do something else. Several minutes…and more than several tears…later, we pull out the ponies and sit on the floor as Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash take off on their next big adventure to the farm.

Yes, the farm. We’re cool that way. 😉

Ten minutes later, just as Pinkie Pie is about to go for a tractor ride, I find myself distracted again, and I end up in the kitchen…doing dishes, vacuuming the floor, and finding another cup of coffee…which I promptly drink while sitting in front of…

You guessed it. Mr. Laptop.

And my little girl continues to play.

Throughout the day there are a few more times when I sit down to play with her, but there is always something that causes me to leave our picnic or our coloring…and I bury myself in another task.

And then, the afternoon of that particular day arrives, full speed and complete with a crash.

The kind of crash that startles me and shocks me and wakes me up with a resounding BOOM.

It comes in the form of sweet Mae, my almost-four year old, tugging on my arm as I’m trying to write.

Yes, Mae? (with maybe a bit of impatience…)

I watch as tears fill her eyes and she snuggles in for a hug. Mommy? I haven’t had a hug yet today. I just want to hug you.

And my heart cracks in two, the tears spill, and I scoot her into my lap, holding her close and tight as her head rests on my chest.

Mommy, I love you.

I love you, too, sweet girl. And I’m sorry that I let life keep me from showing you that sometimes.

I click my laptop closed, my heart pounding with fierce determination. Today I am deciding that nothing is ever more important than the adventures this life holds for a mama and her girl.

We pull out the brightly-colored nail polish and pretty up her toes.

We have princess and pony adventures in the big castle.

We have a little round of couch surfing. (Yes we do…try it!) 🙂

We snuggle down on the couch together and read stories. At one point she starts to tickle me, and we have a little tickle war.

Over and over, I hear those words from her. Mommy, I love you.

And it’s at that moment I realize…in all the dreaming, there is this dream come true, right in front of me. (<====Tweet this.)

This girl, my precious Mae, IS my dream. Every. Single. Day.

And maybe we all have those days…the kind when we get so busy dreaming that we forget about the dreams we have right in front of us, right in our arms.

It’s never wrong to dream BIG. Never. You see, we have a Father who specializes in BIG and MORE and BEYOND…and when we trust Him and walk in faith, He can do so much. So. Much. Even more than we can ask or imagine.

And when it comes to what He’s placed in my heart…

Father, may I never be so busy and so in the thick of dreaming that I forget about the dreams that reside in the life you’ve already given me. (<====Tweet this.)

So here’s to more painting toenails and pony adventures and soaking up the moments…with the most beautiful dream come true.

 What’s a dream come true that He’s already given you?
Will you share with us today?

Shared by: Mel Schroeder

Dear Dreamer…On One Of Those Days

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Hello, sweet dreamer.

It’s your friend, Mel.

And I’m writing to you on one of those days. You know, those days. It’s the kind of day when I wish I could pour two mugs of coffee, add a little extra french vanilla creamer, and sit down for a heart-chat with you in a quiet corner at a cute little table.

Because…well, because we’ve all had those days, and sometimes I think we should talk about them more. Just so we can all be reminded that we’re not alone.

I’m imagining that, even as you read these words, you might be nodding your head. Saying, Yes. Or, maybe even, Days? How about weeks that stretch into months? (Trust me, I’m there with you.) 

Because there are those days, no matter who you are or what you’re dreaming, when the dreams feel shrouded in a fog so thick that there’s nothing to be seen.

Maybe the door to a dream has been closed.

Maybe He’s changed your heart and your desires.

Maybe fear has crept in and camped out in a too-big space, crippling your ability to move forward.

Maybe you’re just struggling for breath, hoping to make it to the next moment.

Or, maybe you’re all of them rolled into one.

No matter where you are today, friend, know this. And I say it from a heart that is right there with you, one that is struggling to find her God-Sized dream, waiting for a glimpse of what her Father might want for even the next step.

He is always there with us. Always.

And He promises it…that wherever we go, He will never leave us. And that includes the moments when we just don’t know and can’t even step forward. (<==== Tweet this!)

He loves us. 

Oh, how He loves us! With a love that is so complete and encompassing that on those scary days when the fear wins out, we can fall back into His strong arms, knowing that He’s waiting.

And we’re here for you, too…your tribe. Your fellow dreamers.

It’s so easy to celebrate dreaming when the days are happy, when it seems like things are going so well. We pour the coffee and do happy dances around the living room because the steps are becoming clearer and the dreams are starting to feel closer.

But if you’re there today…in the messy, confusing place of wondering.

Waiting.

And maybe fighting the fear that your dream is over…

Don’t give in…don’t let the fear win, don’t let the enemy even whisper those words, the ones that will crush your hope.

Because there is Hope…always Hope.

 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Psalm 27:13 (NIV)

And even as my fingers grip my coffee mug this morning…and I wonder what He has for me, I know this…

Even if I don’t feel it, I know it.

I know that His plans for me are good…and that they are better than what I could ever plan for myself. (<==== Tweet This!)

 Are you having one of those days? Weeks? Months? How can I pray for you, my friend?

Shared by: Mel Schroeder

You Are Not a Failure

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When I was 16 I knew that I wanted to be a Physical Therapist when I “grew up.” One of my dad’s best friend’s was a PT and he allowed me to go to the clinic after school and shadow there to see what it might be like.

Before I even started college, I had hours of volunteer time built up. I loved it. I felt this was the perfect job for me and set my mind to achieving my goals.

As a Junior, I was pre-accepted to the private college of my choice, located in my hometown, with scholarships. It was the college that both my parents had both graduated from. Everything was falling into place, perfectly.

I had no doubt that this was God’s plan for my life.

My first semester of college was tough, but I worked hard and did well. Then in my second semester as a Freshman, I took Organic Chemistry. It was HARD and nothing about it came easy. I studied and studied for my first quiz. I got 20 out of 25 wrong.

I felt like a complete and miserable failure.

I was overcome by the belief that if I couldn’t pass the first quiz, I wouldn’t pass the class. And if I couldn’t pass the class, I could never get into PT school.

So with my head down in disappointment and shame and my mind filled with thoughts that the quiz defined my abilities, I walked away from my original career path and ultimately my “dream job.”

I changed my major to Psychology and because of the limited classes available at the private college, I transferred to a state school an hour away.

I started my Sophomore year ashamed and defeated. And while I enjoyed the Psychology classes, I had no idea what I wanted to do after college. All I knew was that I wasn’t smart enough or good enough to become a Physical Therapist, the job that I had been so certain would be for me.

I felt the fool, a girl who had been so sure and yet unable to follow through. What would people think of me?!

Sometimes our greatest failures can lead us to our biggest success. (<==== Click to Tweet)

I graduated with a degree in Psychology and after about a year working in a retail job, ended up at a bank working as a teller.

It was almost a joke to me, having this degree and feeling like I wasn’t using it. Certainly not a dream job!

But I worked hard and had the chance to work in several different departments. For 13 years, my knowledge about the banking environment grew. Then after my husband and I moved to Minnesota for a new job opportunity for him,  I found myself working for a financial planning office. Once again, not what I had imagined for myself as a young adult, but it was a good job and I learned a lot about investments and insurance.

One day, a little over a year ago, my husband came to me and said he needed help at his Estate Planning law firm. He knew that all of my experience over the past 15 years would be an asset to what he was doing.

A perfect fit.

Every year, each moment of training and growing in the financial industry, a field that wasn’t ever part of my “dream,” prepared me in a perfect way to join my husband in growing this new business.

I had no idea, but God did.

What seemed like my greatest failure 20 years ago has led me to one of God’s biggest plans for our family.

I couldn’t see it then, but today I can see all the ways God prepared me for this specific time.

I hope this can be an encouragement to you. No, the journey wasn’t exactly the route or the pace I might have liked. But I don’t think Dominic and I would have been prepared to manage a successful business together even 10 years ago.

Refinement takes time and God has been working on me for years. (<==== Click to Tweet)

Today I can use my experience to encourage my own son who is looking at making some big decisions about college himself. Like me, he has some specific plans about what he thinks his “dream job” is.

I encourage him in his plans, but also make sure to tell him that it is okay to change his mind. Change doesn’t mean we are a failure; it just may be a better avenue to our success.

I am not sure at what stage of the journey you find yourself today. Maybe like me you are wondering how you found yourself so far away from what you believed the “plan” was for your life. Please hear me on this, God is in the details. Sometimes the course is unknown and a little scary, but keep the faith and press into Him as you go.

Just be confident that God will lead you exactly where you are supposed to go in His perfect timing.

Shared by: Kristin Smith

Original Sailboat Photo Credit: Derek Keats

When Your Fears Swallow You Whole

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F.E.A.R.

That elusive 4 letter word staring me down.

It can be tougher to chew on than a $2 Wal-Mart steak. It can steal your dreams quicker than a pickpocket on a crowded subway. And it always leaves you feeling empty, lost, broken, and utterly defeated.

But one way or another, we all have it…

Fear of heights, being wrong, public speaking, rejection, physical pain, failure, traumatizing memories, starting a new job, losing someone we love, and the terrifying unknown. I’m sure there’s a million more, but you get the idea.

Although each of our life experiences are different, the fear is just as real to all of us, in one form or another.

But we have a choice—our fears DO NOT have to define us. And fear should not be the end or the final say in how we live out our lives.

Fear should not be the end or the final say in how we live out our lives.

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There. is. hope.

“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears”
Psalms 34:4 (KJV)

My story, my life, and this journey I’ve walked so far….it knows all about fear. The fear that swallows you whole, one defeating bite after another. The fear that screams, your life is only worth what they define it to be. It’s the kind of fear that nearly blots you out, making you believe that all hope is lost and that the light will never shine again.

You see, the battle of life had left us bloody and wounded. We felt we were drowning in the bottomless pit of the ocean, as the imminent waves continued to pour over us.

Our only hope was to turn to God in our darkest hour.

And that’s just what we did. We gave it all to Him… the anger, the pain, the fear, the hopes… and all the dreams. We placed it all in His hands, wiped the slate clean on every side of the board, and sought Him out relentlessly.

“If you go to God, God will come to you.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

And that’s when it happened.That’s when his hand pulled us out of the darkness. Hope flooded our souls and light began to shine as it never had before. And, the most amazing thing? It began to extinguish the overwhelming fear.

So a new life was born. Free from anxiety. Free from the fear that held us back.

And now the Rock we stood upon, was greater than any fear that could be conjured up.

Our family has lived through some rough stuff, but in all honesty- we would never wish it to be any other way. Every experience in life gives us the chance to become who He really made us to be.

Every experience in life gives us the chance to become who He really made us to be.

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And conquering fear, oh, it sheds a whole new light on dreams you never knew existed. It opens the door to endless possibilities. And it makes for the most amazing adventure that life could ever take you on.

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go.” ―Ann Landers

Shared by: Lisa Larson

Whose Dream Are We Dreaming?

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One evening I was listening to a woman share her story about why she and her husband were moving despite thinking they would live in Houston forever, and she said, Sometimes we have to surrender our dream of what we think our life will be.

I am blessed to be living a dream.  Kind handsome husband – check.  Great career – check.  Good church – check.  Adorable precocious children (girl and boys) – check.  Nice house, car, etc. – check.

This is what I had dreamed my life would be, and it’s truly more than I even thought I could hope for given some obstacles that were overcome solely by God’s miraculous work.

But whose dream is it anyway?  Is it really MY dream?  Or is it a dream filled up arbitrarily by what society deems success?  Or a dream filled up with God’s vision and desires?  Or maybe it’s a combination of a lot of those things?

I was pretty unsettled in 2012 when I started making this assessment.  I’ve started looking at what God’s calling might entail in my life, and it’s uncomfortable.  His plans for the years ahead didn’t really look like MY plans for the future.  So when I heard those words earlier this week, they just hung in the air like the bubble coming out of the mouth of a cartoon character.  Sometimes we have to surrender our dream of what we think our life will be.

surrender

Newsflash:  God anticipated this.  He realized that our dreams might not look like His.  So He wrote about it.  He warned us.  He said, if you’ll give up what you think is your “dream,”  it will be replaced with something so much better, so much richer, so much more fulfilling.

Isaiah 55 provides the perfect illustration of this:  “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.  ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'”

From the beginning to the end, the Bible reminds us that He is perfect and that His ways, His path, His dreams are unbelievably incredible if we would just follow hard after Him:

Deuteronomy 32:4 –  He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

Ephesians 3:20 – Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

What He has dreamed up for us is more than we could dream up for ourselves.  And at the end, when we get say to that we’ve “lived the dream,” don’t we want that to be His dream?  A dream of a life that mattered.  Today, that may mean that we have to surrender our tiny little dream and allow God to replace it with His much bigger, more exhilarating, stunningly wondrous one.  Chris Tomlin sings this song that makes me realize that maybe it shouldn’t be my dream:

Where you go, I’ll go

Where you stay, I’ll stay

When you move, I’ll move

I will follow you

Who you love, I’ll love

How you serve I’ll serve

If this life I lose, I will follow you

Photo Credit: Teri Lynne Underwood