Dreaming Big
Last month I spent my time in Romania- this was our 10th
month on the field. Although the
end of our journey is just around the corner, God continued to push me into new
challenges and new experiences that gave me a greater understanding of how He
calls us and uses us. Most notable this month, was the way in which I realized
I had been responding to God in my life; and how many people in America have
been trained to respond to the Lord.
It seems that many of us have dreams and visions for our lives- thoughts
of having a family, starting our own businesses, getting a Master’s degree,
publishing a book, starting a church, traveling…. But in America, there is a
very rare person who is willing to take a big risk in life. If the dream involves faith of any
kind….forget it- better to take the safe route. We usually find ourselves making excuses that we need to
have all the right resources, perfect timing, and everything purchased and set
up BEFORE we even consider embarking on a risky endeavor.
I want to introduce you to Oana- who we worked closely with
in Romania. She is a woman who has encouraged to be sold out for the dreams
that God has placed in my heart. Oana started a ministry called “The Potter’s
House.� This ministry started as a group of people who would walk downtown with
pots of soup and bread to feed the street children. These children were homeless and some even lived in the
sewers to stay warm in the winter. God spoke over Oana and put a burden for
these children on her heart. God eventually gave her a vision to stop going to the children, rather build a
place where the children can take refuge and come to them. So, she bought a small property that
became a boys home. Due to EU
regulations and Oana not being the boys’ legal guardian, they were not allowed to
live there after some time. After
this trial of the home being disbanded- In 
2001, a new program was initiated to
prevent the expansion of the street children phenomenon which provided meals
and afterschool care for youth of disadvantaged families. We had the opportunity to work closely
with these children who were at high risk of being abandoned. We taught them English,
gave cultural lessons, cooking classes, tutored them in their homework, and
showed them love. During our time
of getting to know the children and Oana, we learned of a new project that she
was starting which involved building a large house that would provide a home
for her family, the high risk children, missionaries, and other visitors of her
ministry.
Oana took us to visit the property in which she was building
on. As she showed us around the house that was merely a frame; bricks and
cement, she told us that “God is
building this house.� I understood
her sentiment when she said this but didn’t fully understand until I heard that
she was building this house off of donations and will build only at the speed
in which the money comes in. When
Oana and her husband were on holiday out of town, the contractors were supposed
to build to a specific size that was designed based off of the resources they
had. When Oana returned she saw
that the house was much larger than she could have imagined. She didn’t know
how the materials were provided and how the house got this big, as if it was
truly built as a miracle of the Lord. 
I have learned through
Oana that I don’t have to have everything bought, provided and lined up in a perfectly flawless
business plan just to dream big and step out in faith to follow God’s calling
on you life. Sometimes God just
asks us to take a step Forward!
It seems that we only deem ourselves successful if we get an
immediate return on our investments.
Would you continue to be faithful if God asked you to build a business
or home that would take 7 years to show any fruit? …..would you follow Him if
he asked you to build the same business and told you it would take 7 years to
bare fruit and that you would not be on earth to see it come to fruition…..would
you walk out the plans God had for you knowing that you would never see it
blossom and prosper? ………Who’s dreams are they? God’s? Yours? Who’s plan are you walking out? Who is
writing your story….?
