Dreams

Once upon a time in a place inside my heart there lived a dream. At one time the dream was vivid and vital. It was so expansive that it enveloped my whole life. The dream empowered and directed every step I took. It took on a life of its own and I became a small part of the bigger picture. I went along for the ride. But somewhere, somehow the dream slowly got smaller and smaller. It faded into the recesses of my heart and became a quiet seed waiting for water so it could grow again.

We all have dreams that have driven us. Maybe it was a dream of winning a championship or gold medal. Or you dreamed of achieving an academic award or degree. For some people it was a career dream or a dream of a spouse and happy family. We have all had dreams, some have come true and some have faded back into our hearts waiting for the right time to come out.

Have you ever experienced any of the following?

• Everything seemed clear and then suddenly there you are, surrounded by harsh reality.
• Life was always fun and suddenly the cares of this world took over.
• Life was full and vibrant and then out of no-where you are in a struggle to survive.

Is it because of mistakes and missteps? Maybe some of it is. But what was done wrong may have nothing to do with what has happened. I believe most everyone can probably relate to at least some of the statements above.

When we are following the dream our path seems clear, our life is fun, full and vibrant. Then something very subtle takes us off the tract just a fraction of a degree and down the road we end up miles away from our destination.

What has happened? Life happened.  As I read the Bible I see that life happened every day. Life included a lot of bad things and good things all mixed together.  As I look around I see endless cases of dreams fading and people struggling. I believe it is the story of life. I believe this life would be pointless without the struggles. The struggles teach us who we are. The struggles allow what is inside of us to shine forth and be seen by all. Sometimes this is good and sometimes the bad comes out, but that is also part of life.

Why do dreams fade away? I wish I knew the answer, because I have a few in my heart that are just seeds waiting to have water to grow again. They used to be big and vital, but now are just thoughts in the night. Someday we will all understand where they go and why they fade. Some day we will see our dreams full and vital again. Those are the days that I live for. Those are the days of hope and future.

Moses started out with a dream to free his people. He killed an Egyptian thinking this was the beginning of his journey to fame and fortune. He ended up in the wilderness for 40 years before God appeared to him and said it was time for the dream to begin. Then he had to put up with grumbling and complaining people as he led them to freedom through the wilderness for another 40 years. It wasn’t exactly what he thought it would be and to top it all off he didn’t even get to enter the Promised Land. But he did get to experience the most intimate relationship with God that any man had. I believe that made it all worth it.

Enjoy your week and don’t give up your dreams.

Running to God

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Miranda Hawk a former student and friend of mine shared a testimony of how God got her attention last year. I want to share it with you.

The Lord opened my eyes to a few simple truths this past year with the loss of our daughter, Briley. He allows things to happen to cause us to be broken, bring us back to His heart and bring Glory to His name. Even though I grew up as a pastor’s daughter and have known, loved and served the Lord my entire life, I didn’t’ t realize that I really didn’t have as deep of a relationship with the Lord as I thought. The days following Briley’s death, I began to seek Him like never before, not because I wanted answers to the question “why” but because I needed His strength. One of the scriptures the Lord spoke to me through a friend was:

 Hosea 2:14-16 14
“But then I will win her back once again.
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her there.
I will return her vineyards to her
and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope.
She will give herself to me there,
as she did long ago when she was young,
when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.
When that day comes,” says the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’
instead of ‘my master.’

I realized that in my brokenness and devastation I had to choose to press in to Him so that He could be glorified. The Lord carried me and still is carrying me through the grief but I hear His heart and I know His heart now like never before. There is a oneness with my Father that has been birthed out of my brokenness and my obedience to press through. Believe me it’s by no means an easy choice, but it is a choice I have made and continued to make daily.
Be encouraged! We do not always need to know the answers to the questions “why.” It could just be another opportunity the Lord has given us to have the option to allow Him to show Himself strong and us to turn and glorify Him.

I am always amazed when God uses situation and circumstances to get our attention and deepen our walk with Him. It takes strong Christian Character to seek God when life looks so bad. It is easy to fall into the blame game and question God. Bad situations give us the opportunity to see what is in us. Sometimes we come through with more strength and sometimes we come through needing to repent, because we took a bad situation and made it worse.

In Numbers 20 Moses took a bad situation of the Israelite’s grumbling and complaining about no water and made it worse when he let his anger get the best of him and didn’t follow God’s instructions. God took the Promised Land away from his future. There are blessings to those who choose God’s Glory over their emotions.

Join me in taking some time to think about how we handle tough situations. Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.