Dream Killers

Whenever the seed of a dream is planted in our hearts, we can expect certain things to happen.  In addition to our own doubts, fears and uncertainties, there is a significant chance of running into dream killers.

Joseph knew this all too well.  God gave him a dream and he shared it.  Now there is some debate as to whether or not he should have kept quiet about it. 

But I believe it was ordained for him to speak it.  And yes, I believe those dream killers were necessary for the fulfillment of it. 

Think about it.  If Joseph had never been sold into slavery and ended up in Egypt, his family might have starved to death from the plague that eventually came.  Or think about everything that transpired afterward, how Moses was born and ended up delivering the Israelites from the Egyptians.

The story didn’t end with Joseph’s dream killers. In fact, that’s when it really began, because God was able to use the dream killers to fulfill His plan.

Could God have worked everything out another way?  He certainly could have.  But rarely is the fulfilling of a dream an easy one.  If it was, we wouldn’t call it a dream…it would be something else.

The point is that we look at dream killers as obstacles, when they very well could be the path to His plan.  The story of our lives can be a complicated tapestry of mistakes, doing things right, being on the mountaintop, dwelling in the valley, walking with strength and falling in defeat.

It’s like this thread that God weaves in our lives.  At times it makes sense.  It all looks beautiful. 

Then other times it gets all knotted up, much like the back of my cross-stitch projects.  It’s a total mess.  But it’s the beautiful and the ugly, the good and the bad, which creates the story of our lives…including the dreams God has planted in our hearts. 

Dream killers come in all forms.  It could be as it was with Joseph’s brothers, jealousy.  It may be past mistakes being thrown in your face, whether that comes from others or from within. 

The enemy may be whispering lies in your ears.  Those who are closest to you don’t seem to be giving the support you expected. 

Maybe it’s time to stop looking at dream killers as something that stands in your way.  Look at them as part of the tapestry of your life and recognize that even in the midst of a mess, God can create something beautiful. 

Photo by imaspy in stock.xchng

Lessons Learned at "She Speaks"

While not everyone who reads this blog attended the “She Speaks” conference held in North Carolina this past weekend, I do know that so much of what I learned could be applied to almost anyone.

In response to another attendee’s blog, I am answering four key questions that will hopefully speak to all readers.

The first question is “What was the best advice you got at She Speaks?” What spoke most to me was this, to let God determine my dream. So often we try to figure things out and decide what the best path for our lives is. We base it on our interests, our likes and those things we are skilled in.

What is interesting about God is that He often chooses to use us in ways we had never imagined or dreamed possible. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are… (I Corinthians 1:27-28)

Do you ever feel that God can’t use you because you are foolish, weak, lowly or despised? Do you feel incapable and unworthy? This is actually the best position to be in, the one that allows for God to really use you. But then you have to trust Him enough to determine your dream.

The second question is, “What was the best lesson you learned in a session?” For me it was when I participated in a peer writing critique group. You had to sit with two other women, whom I had never met, and critique each other’s article. What I learned in that is to be teachable.

The women in my group insisted on using a red pen to mark up each other’s articles. While at first I thought it was too much like being in school, I came to appreciate the red marks that were scribbled across my article. There was constructive criticism and positive remarks made.

We need to be teachable, humble enough to accept correction. Proverbs 12:1 (NIV) is pretty clear: Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. It can’t get anymore blunt than that.

However, instead of a red pen being marked across our lives, we have the blood of Christ that was poured out. His blood points us to a new life in Him and that does mean having a teachable spirit.

The third question was “What are you going to do with what you learned/what is your next goal?” Since for me I received a very favorable response from one of the book publishers, I decided to take my devotional and turn it into my Isaac. I am going to lay it down on the altar and allow God to do His thing. I have the knife over my book, poised and ready to do as He sees fit.

What is your “Isaac?” What do you need to lie down at the altar and completely surrender to God? What difficult thing must you entrust completely and wholly to the Lord?

The last question is “Anything else you want to share? (Good, bad or ugly)?" I wish I could take every single person who reads this blog back in time with me to receive all that I did. Because this past weekend wasn’t just about writing and publishing, it was about surrender.

Surrendering our dreams, our pursuits and our passions isn’t easy. We so badly want to set the course and plan the route. We have our own ideas on how things should work and what should happen next. But nothing can really move forward until we have first surrendered it to God.