Adele, a British soul singer and chart topper, performed before a live audience at the Royal Albert Hall in London. At the end of her 17 song concert, fans roar, completely enthralled by this performance artwork, begging for another round; Adele in a low and humble tone simply says “thank you for making one of my dreams come true”.
I have listened to this album over and over, and I wait eagerly to hear her deliver that line which has changed my perspective…”ONE of my dreams come true”. I’d love to sit down with Adele and ask, “after becoming a mega-star and selling millions of records, what more dreams could you possibly have?” I’d imagine she’d say something very simple like “open a coffee shop” or “send a kid to college”.
Life is filled with dreams.
I am a dreamer myself. Dreams excite me! I even love listening to other people’s dreams hoping maybe I could be a piece to their dream catcher puzzle. As I begin to get older, I started looking at this as a bad thing…Maybe I was plagued with “head in the clouds syndrome” and there was no hope for me to settle on one dream, seek it out, and be content. Maybe having multiple dreams is the sign of someone living in a fantasy world trying to cope with reality. But if Adele can have a list of dreams, a person whom society thinks shouldn’t have want for anything else, then surely I can too.
Years ago…..I remember sitting in an empty apartment in LA (because I didn’t have money to furnish the thing…starving artist is what they call us)…I remember taking out my journal and saying “okay Lord, I’m going to write down all the things that I want to accomplish before I get married (or turn 30). The list was entitled “Things To Do b4 the Big I DO”.
Yesterday…I was going over in my mind how amazing this year has been…stories that will go untold because there were so many happenings to recount…and the Lord said to me “do you remember one of the last things on your To Do list?” Suddenly it struck me…I remembered that moment on my floor writing “travel the world as a missionary” and at the time of writing it, the thought was laughable. How in the world will I pull this one off…shrug…after writing that list I hardly (if ever) looked at it again. It wasn’t something that I was actively pursuing. And the Lord brought all this to my memory…just yesterday…on Thanksgiving ironically enough.
So I could hear Adele’s words, and I immediately began saying them in my heart to my Father. Thank You for making one of my dreams come true!
The most important thing I’ve learned on this trip is God is a good Father. He wouldn’t give me a stone if I asked for a Hawaiian bread roll. He wouldn’t give me a snake. He is good. Even Jesus had to recognize that only God is good. Totally good. No tricks up His sleeve.
He remembered me, my deepest heart’s desires, even when I’d forgot, even when I didn’t have enough faith to actually believe that anything I wrote that day could ever come true.
We are finished the World Race. It’s only a matter of time before I come home. I am beyond grateful for this year in my life. And I thank God that He has made ONE of my dreams come true.
What else is on that list…I couldn’t even tell you…but I wonder if He’s working up more oportunities for me to be able to check them off…He’s so funny like that…
Next stop: the White House! 🙂
