So far in 2020, God has taught me three very important lessons. They’ve impacted me so much that I wanted to share them with you. They’re lengthy so I decided to spilt them into a three part series.
Pt 3 – Dreams
When we’re young, we’re asked what we want to be when we grow up. A fireman is always at the top of the list haha. It actually was for me, believe it or not. My dad was a fireman and so growing up in a firehouse, I just thought that would be the coolest thing ever. My dad was my hero and with such a great example, who wouldn’t want to imitate him and follow in his footsteps? (My dad still is my hero btw in more ways than just this!!)
Well me becoming a fireman didn’t happen obviously haha, but it allowed me to dream for the first time I remember. My next dream was to be a famous country singer. Original, right? It wasn’t until I got out in the ‘real world’ that I stopped dreaming. I’ve always dreamed, like my parents laugh and say that I always have my head up in the clouds. But when I made it to the ‘real world’, I stopped dreaming the big dreams. The deep in my heart dreams. The scary to admit out loud dreams. Why? I guess life got hard and none of them seemed possible anymore and I just kept them to myself. And partly because I was asked more questions like this:
Why are you still single?
Why aren’t you in school?
Why are you still living at home?
Why aren’t you making something of yourself?
When are you going to pursue your dreams?
(I still get asked these often but I have a confidence in where God has me right now and the purposes of my season that I am LOVING who and where I am and what He’s doing)
All those caused me to look at my life and wonder who I was. What my purpose was. What my future would be. And why I hadn’t ended up where I should be.
I started asking myself questions like these:
What do I want out of life?
What do I not want?
What scares me?
What excites me?
What challenges me?
What confuses me?
What is expected of me?
What do I expect of me?
Where do I want to be?
Who do I want to be?
So I set out to figure all that out. But it quickly became exhausting. Chasing after I didn’t even know what trying to find whatever it was I was supposed to do while trying to be whoever I was supposed to be. All for selfish reasons wanting to know what I was going to gain from all this struggle trying to be something.
Until two and a half years ago one night on my balcony when God asked me to give Him all of me. Even my dreams. Especially my dreams. So I did and let me tell y’all God has wrecked my dreams. In the best way. I don’t dream like I used to. All my big dreams, I realized, were actually kinda small. Limiting. When you add God to your dreams, or more like just hand them completely over to Him, they get a whole lot bigger! Your dreams change. They don’t change your circumstances, but they change you. They don’t just make your life better, they make others lives better. They don’t just serve you and your desires, they can serve God and He can use them to accomplish His will.
Part of why I stopped dreaming was because I didn’t feel capable or worthy of them, the result, or the journey. But God created me. He chose me and He made me, WITH my dreams. He instilled them in me and He has the capability of making them happen. But the dreams that He placed in my heart, and I’ll share them with you, are meant to bring HIM glory, not me. That fact makes them so much sweeter, so much bigger, so much more worth the fight. Some of the dreams He’s placed in me are to travel and capture different aspects of His creation that others aren’t able to see through photography, to write a book, to lead young women in love for their bibles as well as their communities, and to write worship songs to Him.
When I gave my dreams to Him, He said “watch Me move”. And He’s moving mountains! He’s opening doors! He’s making a way! He’s allowed me the opportunity to travel the world for an entire year with a squad of likeminded believers. He’s given me a new space to share what I learn from His Word and my thoughts concerning His love. He’s given me so many opportunities to teach and lead young women in my church, growing in discipleship. And He speaks to me so deeply through music and art, I may have already written a couple songs. Don’t freak out, they’re not hits and I won’t be signing autographs LOL
So y’all, dream your big dreams. God placed them inside you. He may even have big purposes for them. Don’t let others or even your own self stand in your way. Give them to Him and watch them grow and glorify Him!
Until the next one,
Chelsie
