The Fed-Ex man arrived without pomp and circumstance.  No balloons.  Just a request to sign for the simple package.  It didn’t even register what it was until I cut open the envelope.  Nestled inside sat a book.  My book.  My very first book.  The one I started writing less than 12 months ago now sat in front of me with the bold font proclaiming “Learning to Lead.”

I nearly passed out with joy and excitement.  Yet the elation was shortly followed by a sense of sadness when the person I wanted to jump up and down with didn’t celebrate right along with me.

Daily living with a dream, regardless of what it is, can drain you. 

You have to have a crew to support and encourage you.  Dreaming becomes even harder if the one person you want to stand beside you doesn’t “get it.”

You rush home or to an event, elated from a dream development, and your parent or child or spouse or best friend doesn’t understand why you’re excited.  You wake up feeling defeated and ready to stop dreaming, and the one person you need to encourage you to hang in there can’t comprehend why you’re depressed.

There could be a lot of things at work when you, and your dream, bump into this.

Sometimes, you have a relationship with someone who either doesn’t have a faith relationship or is in a very different spiritual place than you are.  It’s hard for someone to encourage your God-sized dream if they can’t understand the concept of God’s calling.

Other times, the one person from whom you most desperately crave dream-approval withholds it because they are upset that you are working on your dream and they aren’t.  Jon Acuff once posted that your family or closest friend may be ambivalent, or downright hostile, to your dream because they hear this when you talk about your dream successes or challenges: “You’re not working on your dream.  If you were smart or passionate about life you’d be working on a dream too.  You’re failing right now.”  That isn’t what you said, but that’s what they heard.

Regardless, what do you do when you feel alone?

This God-sized dream is burning a hole in your heart and you want to share the ups and downs of the journey with the person that you love most.  You hurt every time there’s a development and you cannot share it or the news is not well-received.

First, stop telling them about the developments or the disappointments.

This is SO hard because you want their validation.  You want their encouragement.  But you aren’t going to get that, at least not right now, so say a prayer and stop laying offerings down only to have them discarded.  One of my dearest friends urged me, “Give those glorious happenings you would normally share with the one dear to you  to the Lord – hold your hands up in prayer and let them be your sacrifices.”

Next, find a crew who understands your dream and God’s calling in your life. 

Allow them to pray you through the storms and cheer when you sail into the next port.  It may not be the one person you most want to stand alongside you, but an Earthly support crew will help you continue on your dream journey.

Finally, remember your Captain.  He who began a good work in you WILL be faithful to complete it.  This is His calling for you.  (<====Click to tweet.)  The forks in the road or the storms while at sea are there for a purpose.  You have a Captain; you need only let Him steer.

Shared by: Gindi Vincent

Photo credit: Derek Keats

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