This week we are going to talk about creating a dream list. This is a list you write down in your journal of the impossible, hope-filled passions that are in your heart. Mine is ever changing and ever-being-added-to. I got started with my dream list by asking myself some questions. Though every season is different and not every dream may come to pass now, I do know that God tends to use your desires, in addition to how He has wired you, in unexpected ways to fulfill your purpose.
If we can write down on paper what He loves and what we love, we will look back on life and see how God has taken those seemingly small desires and woven them into our purpose. I’ve seen this truth in my own life. God takes who He’s created me to be, and weaves my uniquely
beautiful quirkiness within my purpose.
Though God seldom fulfills all my desires the way I plan, He often fulfills them in ways far greater than I could ever imagine.
So what makes your heart skip a beat? Do you know what that thing is? The thing that, when you step toward it, it’s as if you become breathless with anticipation of what could happen. What could be. You wake up bubbling with excitement to put your feet on the ground and start running. You get butterflies in your stomach because you can’t wait to put your hand to it.
You fear it, too, because you sense a deep love for it, as if something is drawing you to it. A sober fear is more like an urgency to keep that thing in its right place and God in His. A humility washes over you, realizing that with this “thing,” it’s got to be all about God and not about you.
What is that thing that makes you come alive?
As a high school student, I loved working with kids. I would spend my summers working in a latchkey program for kids whose parents worked full-time. I loved those kids, especially the two and three-year-olds. They were always loving, and came alive seeing someone consistent
in their lives over the summer. For me, in that season, that latchkey program filled my bucket. I was discovering what I loved.
So what does your heart beat for in this season? For some it could be simply being a mother or father. Parenting could be many people’s calling for a season. Adoption. Owning a business. Being a part of a certain business. Working with your hands. Serving at church. Helping others. Knitting. Writing. Creating. Leading. Following. Loving. Caring.
Whether a nursery worker or owner of a Fortune 500 company, there’s no set rules for what you can and cannot be, and no one thing is better than the other. We are all part of a bigger
plan. His story is unfolding in each and every aspect of our lives.
Maybe you’ve never taken time out to discover what you love. You know what God loves. You’ve studied His heart. You know who you are through His Word, but how has He wired you personally?
There’s no better day than today to start the discovery.
Actually, get a pen and paper out right now and start with these questions:
• What do I love? What makes my heart skip a beat?
• If I were guaranteed not to fail, what would I venture out to do?
• When I was a kid, what did I dream of becoming or doing?
• If I knew that God wouldn't laugh at a desire, what would I write down on my list? (I believe that God cares about the big spiritual things and the small non-spiritual things—on my list I wrote "kiss my husband on top of the Eiffel Tower," and "travel down the Amazon River someday." Nothing is too big or too small for God)
• If money weren’t an issue, what would I love to do for the next decade?
• In the secret places of my own home, what’s one thing I wish I could learn to do?
I also want to encourage those of us who have gone through such deep, soul-rocking hardship that we no longer want to dream, to dream again. The reality is that our circumstances do not change the character of God. I believe in this next season that God has things He wants to fulfill in your life.
Although life can be hard, God is good. I’m praying that as you step out in faith, this next season is not marked by disappointment, but a deep dependence on God and that He reveals His goodness over and over again to you.
God has got your list. He knows every secret desire of your heart, you might as well make Him aware of it. Bring it out in the open with Him. He knows your season, your rhythms, and the purpose that is best for your life. Not only that, but He can and will perform divine miracles to provide for some of those things that you never thought possible. He’s done many of these things on my list already. I know He will do the same for you.
"Dream on, my sweet friend!"
Photo Credit: Alex Zhernovyi
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