No Dugouts in the Field of Dreams

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Posted by Sara

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One thing I’ve discovered about my little journey of dreaming with God is – there’s no sitting on the sidelines.  Writing your dreams down is only a first step.  But what do you do next?  You pursue them - and anticipate God meeting you in the journey. God is really fond of doing things WITH you.

Exhibit A. After graduating from college in 2003, one of my dreams was to be free from student loan debt.  Feeling called to the mission field, and in turn a meager income, I knew this dream could take 30+ to walk out. Regardless, I simply set out to begin paying off my loans.  For sake of space I will spare you all of the delightful details, except the last one.  In five years God had provided in such a way that I was completely debt free.  I had been paying what I could on a monthly basis, received two educational stipends from participating in the AmeriCorps program, and finally was given a check for $10,000 by one of my missions supporters for the sole purpose of paying off my student loans.  Dream Fulfilled.

Exhibit B. My roommate has an incredible dream.  A talented cook with a heart for healthy living, she dreams of combining her passions to make nutritious foods and cooking accessible to all people.  To walk out her dream of earning a degree in nutrition she is working at a group home to pay her way through prerequisite courses at the local community college. It’s not an easy gig.   Taking Chemistry, a subject that doesn’t come easy for her, after a decade of being out of school has been a daunting challenge this summer.  But God is meeting her and she keeps saying “yes” to her dream.  I loved watching her rejoice when she got an ‘A’ on her first Chem test!  Dream in process.

We are active participants in our dream lives. God will meet us in the journey, but we also need to be willing to say “yes” to his faithfulness by stepping out into our dreams.  Not all dreams are fit for every season of our life.  But right now, I believe, God has each of us in a place where we can begin to walk towards one of our dreams.  It’s time to ask Him where our next stepping stone is.
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Grab a bat.  Grab a glove. Game's on.
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Super Size this devo:  Here's some more ideas to prompt your dreaming.  I've included examples from my own dream list to prime your pump:
We can have fun dreams. (I want to ride a hot air balloon someday). 
We can have emotional dreams. (I want to live without worry). 
Physical dreams (I wan to run a half marathon through Napa Valley). 
Travel dreams (I want to visit Israel).
Spiritual dreams (I want to pray for a blind person and see them healed.)
Financial dreams (I want to pay off someone else’s student loans.)
Legacy dreams (I want to invest in a home and some land somewhere beautiful that could be passed down to my kids and future generations).

What are your extravagant dreams?  What are the dreams that seem so small, you feel God shouldn’t even be concerned with them?  What are your fun, emotional, physical, travel, spiritual, financial, and legacy dreams? 

sara
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