DREAM

Well, it is January 22nd and I am just getting to writing down my Banner Word for the year.  For a few years I have read about people who come up with a word for their year to reflect on what God is doing in their life. This year I have been praying over a word. The one that keeps popping up in the books I'm reading, conversations with friends, the sermons I am hearing, and basically everywhere is the word, DREAM.  It doesn't seem very spiritual to me and so I've questioned if this is really the word God has for me for this year.  But it keeps coming back to me so I have decided to embrace the word and start pursuing the dreams that God has already put in my heart, and the ones He has yet to put in my heart.

Psalm 38:9 says, "You know what I long for Lord; you hear my every sigh."

My longings and my sighs are my dreams, my secret heart desires that only God knows about.  I have been pondering what my dreams are and realized that there a varying degrees of dreams. There are the universal dreams: the dream to be happy, healthy, and prosperous.  Everyone has that dream. Then there are the physical dreams for a nice home, nice things, etc.  I have spiritual dreams, dreams about doing amazing work for God's kingdom, making Him proud of me and how I spend my time.

I have gone through a lot of changes recently.  We discovered that my middle son has a few special needs that needed a full time parent to be present to help him so I had to quit my teaching job to do this.  It was a very hard choice.  I really loved teaching and I really loved the students that God had blessed me with this year.  Walking away from a job I adored, where I felt appreciated and fulfilled was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  I had been a stay at home mom for 6 years and I will admit that I was a bit burnt out on it last year, so when I had this dream teaching job placed in my lap, I was very excited for a new challenge, a new adventure! And boy was it!  Managing a classroom and my 3 children was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  But sometimes hard is a good thing, and for me it was.  I loved it.  So when God changed my course, I was confused, frustrated, but open.  Wherever I am, I want to be in the center of His will.

So with this new change to being a stay at home mom again, I think God is calling me to DREAM some new dreams.  Something beyond teaching and also beyond changing dirty diapers.  He is always working in our lives, sometimes in obvious ways and sometimes in not so obvious ways.  My prayer for 2014 is that He will shape my dreams to be His dreams and that those dreams will come true.

Ephesians 3:20-21 says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever."

My dreams are small. His are big.  Mine are limited by my own insecurities, fears, and experience.  His are wide open, immeasurable, and bigger than anything I can imagine.  Yep, I want HIS dreams for my life!! I can't wait for Him to reveal them to me this year!