What If I Don’t Have a Dream?
The small steps of faith and obedience guide us toward our God-sized dreams
I strive to surround myself with people who inspire and encourage me. Women like many of you who are reading this blog. The doers. The ones who “Dream Big” and push others to do the same. These are the best kind of friends!
Our friend and Created Woman board member, Crystal Breaux, is one of those people. She believed in me and asked me to join with her in hosting a conference for women about finding their life purpose. I was so excited to be a part of this, but as the planning team went through the study material in preparation for the conference, I couldn’t think of anything to write down when we came to the part of the study about my passions and dreams.
Not One.. Single..Thing.
This left me doubting that my ability to lead other women in finding their God-given purpose because I wasn’t even sure of my own.
As we continued through the study, I would listen to friends on the conference panel and hope that their passions and dreams would rub off on me; because, in my lack of faith, I believed that God had not given me any. I wanted that big dream or a burning passion to achieve a certain goal, or a desire to help solve a specific problem for others. Was it simply missing? Or maybe I was just missing IT. Where was my God-sized dream? Where was the big passion in my life?
This thought pattern made me believe that if there was no big dream in my heart, there might as well be no dream at all and as the conference neared, I felt like I would have nothing to share with the dreamers in the audience. I wanted to know the final destination before I could take the first step! Then, God grabbed hold of my heart and made it clear to me that my focus was all wrong. I was focusing on my lack of a “Big” dream, when He was calling me to simply take small steps of obedience.
Sometimes God wants us to take one small step at a time before He shows us where we are headed. In Genesis 12, we see this truth played out as God calls Abram to leave his home and family to start a journey to an unknown destination with faith that God would guide him.
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1 NLT)
When God calls Abram, notice that He doesn’t tell him to go to the land you have seen or the land I have shown you; no. He calls him to go to the land I will show you. God called Abram to be obedient and go in faith, destination unknown, and He calls us to do the same.
It’s in the small steps of obedience that we grow. God wants us to trust Him with our journey and to lean into Him when we have doubts. We must be faithful not to look past the small dream steps that God is calling us to take, while we are searching for the big dream steps WE want to take. God is slowly showing me where my passions lie and what He is calling me toward, but for now, I am called to submit to Him and keep walking down the path in faith, one small step at a time.
Reflection
1. Have you ever struggled to pinpoint what passions and dreams God has placed in your heart? How did this affect your journey of faith?
2. Created Woman is an organization that helps women reach their God-sized dreams. Has has this organization helped you take the small steps toward your dreams?
3. What small step of obedience is God calling you to take today?
Goals
List 3 small steps you can take to begin your journey of faith toward your unknown dream destination:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)
