[pinit count=”horizontal”]

I have lived the last 30 years of my life…afraid.

Afraid to dream.

Afraid to admit it.

Afraid to dare it.

For the last 18 years I waded through darkness, unsure that the light even existed.  You see, my past is a jumbled mess. Only in the last year have I really begun to live, and even then, I wake most mornings and wonder what I’m doing here. How on Earth can I write for a group of women about dreams, when I don’t even have my own figured out?

And that’s just it. That’s where the arrow strikes me through the heart and floods my soul with a truth that is greater than my own reasoning.

“In a very real sense not one of us is qualified,
but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory.
―Madeleine L’Engle   

Truth is, I’m not good enough. I’m not qualified. None of us are. Yet God’s ways are so contrary to ours. (<==== Click to tweet.)

As humans we have the tendency to choose the most perfect among us…the natural born leaders, the less risky, the ones that stand out and appear qualified.

Yet, He chose the least likely of all to accomplish His will and manifest His glory. Noah got drunk, Rahab was a prostitute, Paul was an accomplice to murder, Moses had a speech impediment, Jacob was a liar, David committed adultery, Martha worried too much, Peter denied Christ, Jonah ran from God, and Lazarus was dead.

In reality, He has a plan for all of us. No matter our past, our pain, our mistakes, or our incompetence, He is greater than it all. And no matter what we have done, nothing can stop God from using us to make manifest His glory.

“Other people are going to find healing in your wounds. Your greatest life messages and your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts.”
―Rick Warren

 _________________________________

Growing up, I was taught that my dreams didn’t count. They didn’t matter. They were a waste of time. So tonight, I sit at the computer, staring wide-eyed at the blank screen in front of me, wondering if any of you have ever felt the same―that your dreams didn’t matter?

As I sit here contemplating, a little voice interrupts my thoughts with a beaming smile. “Mama, I know what I want to do when I grow up,” she says confidently. “I’m going to open an orphanage in Africa, and be a mommy like Katie.”

[pinit count=”horizontal”]

Last month her Orphanage was going to be in Ireland. The month before, it was in Egypt. And who knows where it will be tomorrow, or what else she will dream of becoming.

Some days she wants to be a chef, a professional violin player, or a doctor. But no matter what she chooses, I will protect each and every dream she has and hold her hand every step of the way.

Because every dream counts. And every step along the way, grows a soul. (<==== Click to tweet.)

And no matter how wild and impossible her dreams may seem, I will encourage and explore every one of them with her. Why?

Because no dream has even the faintest chance of becoming a reality, unless you give it wings. I know that might sound silly and unpractical. Sophisticated grown-ups have told me, “don’t give her a false hope or make her believe she can do something, that she can’t.”

Well, my answer is this: try telling that to Rosa Parks or the Wright brothers. There are hundreds of dreamers and do-ers who have gone before us. Their dreams never came easy and never without a price…but that didn’t stop them.

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
―T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” He went bankrupt several times before he finally built Disneyland. And as an inventor, Thomas Edison made nearly 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.

We live in a cynical world that breeds instant gratification, and defines the worth of a man by the amount of money in his pocket. There is hardly room to dream anymore. We laugh and mock and scorn those who fail. And worse yet, it’s almost an epidemic in today’s society: See the dream…..kill it. And if you don’t extinguish it yourself, you can be sure that someone else will certainly do the job for you.

In a culture where we are taught to conform to the normal, to be practical, to fit inside the box, let’s face it―it’s all too easy to trample dreams and ideas, before they even have the chance of getting off the ground.

When a reporter asked Thomas Edison, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

Now my little girl may not become the next Yo-Yo Ma, or Katie Davis, but that doesn’t matter. Dreaming is not about the end result. It never has been. It’s about the process. The steps it takes to get there. The way it transforms your soul, your faith, and who you are.

When you take a step in faith and dare to believe that God placed a dream in your heart, or called you to do something wild that utterly terrifies you…the process is nothing less than life changing. It opens your soul, breaks down your walls, and bends your will to match what God intended for you to accomplish all along.

“I can’t help but wonder how many of us have a God-sized dream within us but we’re so afraid of failing that we never even try. We can’t imagine how the God idea could possibly happen. It’s beyond reasonableness. We never act on the vision. Here’s a challenge: don’t worry about the outcome. That isn’t your responsibility. He who began a good work is the One who will carry it to completion. You simply need to act on it.”
―Mark Batterson

So, I pose one question to you today…What dream would you pursue with your life if you weren’t afraid of failure, afraid of the outcome, or afraid that God couldn’t use you?

_______________________________

 

This week we’re giving encouragement for those times when we don’t feel worthy of our dreams.

Share your story on your blog and link up with other God-sized dreamers below.
{For those who don’t have a blog, we invite you to share in the comments or on Facebook.}

Let’s all display the link up photo so we can find each other! Click here for link.

Next week, we’ll be sharing how we can trust that God’s given us just what we need for our God-sized dream.  It might not seem like enough at times, but it leaves plenty of room for God to work! 

{Prompts this week are from Chapters 7 and 8 of Holley’s devotional, Opening the Door to Your God-Sized Dream.}