A Nine-Year-Old Child’s Journey Towards Her God-Given Dream
The Seed Was Planted
I lay in bed at night with my face pressed close to the open window with the hopes of having a gentle breeze blow over it. Summers in South Georgia were hot and humid and there was no air-conditioner in the farm house I grew up in to cool the temperature from the 90 degree highs of the day.
With my face pressed close to the widow and my eyes staring into the moonlight, a dream began bouncing around inside of me. It was the summer I turned nine-years-old. Yes, God loves little children, and holds them close in the midnight hours and talks to them about His future plans for them.
As the dream began to take its place and grow within me, so did my prayer life and relationship with Jesus grow right there in my spot at the window each night while gazing upward towards the heavens. Many mornings, I woke up to look around to see if the dream had come true during the night. Ahh….. the faith of a little child.
The Seed Grew
The years passed. Gone were the summer nights on the farm; life went on with college, marriage, and children of my own. Circumstances changed, but the dream remained. “What do I do with this dream you gave me, Lord,” I often cried out. “I know I was just a child when this dream was planted, but even then, I felt your presence and your love for me. I also sensed something about a special plan for my life as I lay in bed with the secrets of my heart shared only with You. I feel something needs to be birthed, but I don’t know how.”
And then one day while sitting in church, my pastor in New Orleans stepped up to the pulpit and announced: “The title of my message this morning is ‘How to Have Your Dreams Come True.’”
I hurriedly got out my pen and wrote the steps down in the back ofmy Bible, which I still carry with me today---some thirty years later.
1. Have a goal, find a purpose
2. Find out God’s way of concrete objective and begin to walk in that direction.
3. Spiritual fortitude. It will cost you something no matter what comes, become obsessed with the dream
4. Surround yourself with the right kind of people
5. Get your house in order first (inside)
I Made Up My Mind
Those steps that my pastor outlined brought me to the realization that I could no longer just have the dream deep down inside of me; I had to pursue it. I couldn’t just wait for the fulfillment of it to drop down in my lap. Thus, for the first time in my life, I began actively following those steps to the tee. I confess that the hardest step was getting my house in order first----the inside of me needed a complete makeover. The innocence of a nine-year-old child was gone.
The Years in Between
As time marched on, I learned there was another step that my pastor had not mentioned in “How to Have Your Dreams Come True” ---FAITH.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.(Hebrews 11:1 KJV)
I have looked back over my life and realized that it was
· Faith that launched me out into the seas of unchartered waters
· Faith helped me to overcome the naysayers
· Faith helped me to believe with God all things are possible
· Faith helped me to surrender to God’s perfect timing for the dream to be fulfilled
Yes, God made a covenant with me as a little nine-year-old girl for a special dream He placed within my heart.
His word is Yea and Amen!! (2 Corinthians 1:21)
Personal Reflection:
1. Do you have a dream? If so, name it.
2. What steps do you feel you need to take in order to pursue it?
3. Where are you in the Created Woman process of fulfilling your purpose? Dreams, Healing, Identity, Health, Purpose, Inside Out
Podcast!
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