Dream Again
The birth of my daughter, Hope Isabelle was right smack in the middle of all of the usual holiday chaos – Thanksgiving, five family birthdays, and of course Christmas and New Years. It was a joyful time sharing our new bundle of ‘hope’ with our family and friends as we barely survived keeping our eyes open in between feedings, diaper changes, tears, and lack of sleep. In the midst of all the rush, we tried to keep Christmas as normal as possible for our 3-year-old so that she wouldn’t miss making those special and magical memories with the family. It was definitely a balancing act surviving only on fumes and adrenaline.
In the middle of all of this, God began to show me that I needed to take some time to rest and study. Rest? How am I going to rest? I would love to rest, sleep, have time alone but how is that possible? I welcomed the opportunity but couldn’t see how to make it a reality with a 1-month-old and a toddler. But, when the New Year greeted us with an aroma of new beginnings, I realized it was time to put some things on the back burner so that I could actually ‘rest.’ For me, that meant I needed to clear my to-do list of things that did not involve my kids or husband. Only then did everything around me come to a stand still and I was able to rest.
The first week was great! I enjoyed snuggling with my new baby and watching her every move. But as the weeks grew longer, I became restless eventually crying out, ‘God, is this all there is for me? What about all those dreams you gave me that I’ve been pursing for so long? What happens now to my dreams?”
But it was there, in the middle of my rest, that God began revealing something new. Something I had not detected in the midst of the chaos, the to-do list, and the routine of pursing the dream God had given me years ago. God didn’t take the dream away; He just wanted me to see a new way of doing things that was better for my family, my business, and even for my health. He was showing me how to balance what He had already given me.
It took me to actually let go and drop things I was holding onto, like my to-do list, to enter into a real rest and allow God to restore what had been broken down. In the months that followed, I began to see how my years of prayer for restoration began to be answered all because I allowed myself to rest in Him. Restoration begins in the rest.
Since then, my daily prayer has been for God to help me remember to rest in Him and surrender tasks and lists that I was making a priority but were not from God. You see I learned that the dream I had been pursuing had become routine, stale, and hard. I still believed in the dream but without focusing on how God wanted me to pursue them, they began affecting my family and myself in a negative way.
If you are struggling with a dream that God has placed in your heart or feel your dream has been lost, find a place and a season where you can rest in Him. For you, that may look like clearing the to-do list like I did. For others, it may be saying ‘no’ to volunteering for a while, cutting out TV or projects that aren’t necessary. And for some others, it may be actually involve taking a vacation with your friends or family to clear your head and get real rest. I promise, God is a God of restoration and sometimes all it takes to dream again is a little rest!
{Teaser: Journal entry is an excerpt from CW's upcoming Study Guide. Small group coming soon in the fall through CW: Gather Her}
[title subtitle="You're Invited"][/title]
CW: Gather Her is an evening of fashion and faith meant to refresh her through power messages, dinner, pampering and a time to share, create and grow with other dreamers and women of purpose.
There's something special that happens when women who live on purpose gather around a dinner table. The conversations are life changing causing a shift in momentum in where we are going.
~ A movement ~ An awakening ~
That's why Created Woman has designed a monthly gathering called CW: Gather Her for women who desire to and are living on purpose and for a purpose launching Thursday, May 26th, 2016 at the Arthouse Austin.
Your invited to be refreshed, renewed and sharped so that you can continue to be and become who you are created to be, run your race with endurace and show up well!
Pictures coutesy of Austin Art House and Leandra Blei Photgraphy