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On Wednesdays we are thrilled to fling open the doors to all of YOU! We love hearing your dreaming stories…the lessons you’ve learned, the roads you’ve walked, the dreams He’s planted in your hearts! Today we are thrilled to welcome Aliyah Jacobs to God-sized Dreams. She shares a story of the ups and downs that come with chasing a huge dream…and also a reminder of how He blesses when we are faithful to His call.
Thanks so much for being here today, Aliyah!
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There was a fire on the mountain a few miles from our home on the day I got the call. The call where the editorial assistant said “Congratulations! Your manuscript is amazing, we want to sign a publishing contract with you for this work!”
But the journey to this point started long before.
As a child I wrote extensively, not because I dreamed about being a writer but because I dreamed about being a lawyer or a justice worker. I wanted to help others, I wanted to help abused women, I wanted to work at a safe house and give hope. So after school I registered for a journalism course but the course fell through. I wept inconsolably, as I saw my dreams burn like pieces of paper but my parents told me to take the year off. So I did and the following year I enrolled for a degree program in English and Psychology. I started working at a community centre with abused women and victims of trauma. It was thrilling but towards the end of my fourth year working there I wanted to write.
In my honours year of 2011, I woke up early ready to attend a workshop that was compulsory for our program. As I rubbed my sleepy eyes I heard God say “I’m going to meet with you today, just go.” So I went. The workshop was a purpose based workshop and God kept His word, He met with me in a painful yet necessary way. In that workshop God told me “a cornerstone of your purpose is to be a writer, my child. To write so that others, particularly women, will be forever changed.”
A few months later I saw a counsellor as I was struggling with the resurrected embers of a little girl’s broken dream. Then I started writing and it was painful, I had no direction until I wrote from my heart. (<====Tweet this.)
The very first thing I ever published was a heart – poem about the murdered Jews in the Mumbai killings, because I have paternal Jewish blood I felt the pain of the injustice and the innocent. After that I wrote for magazines, for organisations and for our ministry.
In 2012, I had a nervous breakdown, fell sick and lay in bed for months. During that very dark time in my life, God led me back to an apocryphal book, (one of the books left out of the Protestant Bible) called Judith. It is a story about suffering and hope written in Biblical style in a few scant pages. I picked up a pen and started to write, or rather I scribed what the Holy Spirit gave me and at the end I stood with a historical novel entitled Yehudit – Chosen of God.
In 2014 God told me to send it in, He showed me a specific publisher, so I sent it in. My husband and I went on a missionary trip to Ghana and when we returned I got a call saying that the publisher loved the book but they wanted it in Afrikaans (a local language spoken only in South Africa). So I had it translated, resent it and in February 2015, that call came.
After I hung up the phone with the editorial assistant I sat quietly and watched a small helicopter pour water on the open flames on the mountain. I was sure hardly anyone noticed the fire on the mountain but somehow I felt connected to that helicopter, I felt as though I was that helicopter. Suddenly the intense love of God surrounded me as I watched the smoke. I heard His voice “you have done well my child, you have been faithful when no one has seen, you have done well, you can rest.”
I have learned in my life that the dreams we dream when we are little girls are the dreams that matter. And often they are the purest God-dreams. So here I am, with a scary contract in hand and much work to be done to release this book in July 2016.
The journey has just begun, and I am excited as I stand on the cusp of my God–dream. (<====Tweet this.)
Photo Credit: Leslie Richards
Aliyah is a storyteller who lives on the Southern most tip of Africa, where two oceans meet and collide. She is in full time ministry with her husband and best friend. Together they have a great commission and truth – focus for the nations. Aliyah is passionate about heart stories, hearing and capturing the stories that refresh the heart and ignite renewed passion for Gods love and truth. She has a masters degree in Counseling and can be found blogging and reflecting over at The Warrior & The Flower.
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Do you have a God-sized Dream story to tell? We’d love to have you share your journey with us!
Visit our Guest Post Submissions page to learn more!
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Kristin Hill Taylor says
Aliyah, I’m so glad to see your story here after emailing with you. 🙂 I know God will continue using you and your story to encourage women.
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ALiyah says
Hey Kristin – thank you so much! You were the connection here 🙂 Bless you. Thank you so much for your encouragement, have an awesome week. Aliyah **
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Chris Malkemes says
Aliyah – my heart sister. I am so glad to see your face – I know your heart and the journey has just begun. He etches His word in your soul and you share it with us. In the sharing we are all blessed. Thank you. ~God bless you and keep you…Your Chris~
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Aliyah says
Hey my heart sissy Chris! You are always a beacon of hope, your words light a fire of encouragement, I am so blessed and humbled by God’s Love and Grace that shines through in your words here, may He continue to bless others through the words that He breathes. Bless you for you journey and thank you for being a woman who is really special. Your friend Aliyah **
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