//When the Dream Flops//

I do realise it is no longer October, but in fact December. I am aware that this little series is supposed to be over as it was a 31 day series. However, friends this topic became close to my heart. An exploration if you like of figuring out the mess, or life in general. Finding purpose in what was going on behind the scenes. 

So the Lord has continued to speak into my heart on this topic. So I am checking in again with the final post I wrote as my thoughts were wrapping up, and it got left in a notebook once again and thrown into my bag never to be seen again until now. 

He totally orchestrated the timing of so many amazing things which could have been only the Holy Spirit wanting to speak to my messy soul. By encouraging me to seek what His plan could be for anyone's life really and also what that would mean to me personally. While no-one else may ever have read any of the content, it was so healing to write as I found truth so that I could look back on it and read what He was speaking into my life. To see how He had orchestrated little things to all line up, like receiving a book by one of my favorite authors to arrive on the day I started this journey. That book was full of truth and wonderful reminders of my worth and value coming from the Lord alone. So these are my final thoughts on what happens if you chase that dream and the dream flops?

Well quite simply, it isn't our job to make anyone receive something in a certain way. Whether our dream is to write and no-one reads what we wrote, or to paint and no-one wants to buy our artwork, or make music and no-one cares to listen. It is not our job to convince people they need to appreciate our gifts or fight for attention we feel our art deserves, it is just our job to offer it. (Emily Freeman, A Million Little Ways) 

Our job is to just offer our gifts and talents regardless of the outcome. 

Isn't that kind of freeing in a way? Knowing that we don't control whether a dream works out or not. Because that isn't the point of offering the dream and trying to chase it providing it is in line with scripture. The point is to bring glory to God through whatever we do. And the rest is up to Him. We bring the simple offering, God does the miracle. 

Sometimes that might be above and beyond what we thought could possibly come from our dream. Other times it might still be for our good, but the dream may never happen for a reason unknown to us currently. 

'Now to the one who can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is working among us.'

(Ephesians 3:20)

 'And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.'

(Romans 8:28)

So in this current season of chasing a couple of dreams I have had for quite some time now, I am holding them loosely. Trusting that God just expects me to offer them up to Him and trust Him with the outcome. Knowing that whatever happens, He has my best interests in mind.

Have you ever chased a dream that you never saw any fruit from?

This post is still part of my 31 day series for the month of October, 
fighting through the fears and sharing the confusing passions I have. 
Hoping to figure out the bigger picture of all these interests.

(I added several extra days to finish sharing truth I found along the way!)

//Knowing What to Chase//

One of the biggest things I have struggled with is the question of knowing what to chase. So there are all these passions in my life, potential things I could pursue. But how do we know what we should look into? What things are good things to pursue? Which one should I do that brings glory to God? 

Well first of all, the question of what shouldn't we pursue could be considered. 

'Chasing a desire that will lead to doing something wrong is sin. But be very careful with your wording. The point isn't that you would then be violating the law of God - we already know we can't keep his law. The point now, as a new covenant believer, is that you would be violating the love of God, and that is a different motivation altogether.'

(A Million Little Ways, Emily Freeman p.121)

So we know that we want to reveal His glory! That is our purpose. And our greatest fear is to violate His love. When we love someone, we want to do what brings them joy. So out of our love for Him, we know that is something we don't want to chase. Something that would hurt Him. 

'So God created human beings in his own image.

    In the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.'

(Genesis 1:27)

We are made in His image, for this reason we are an artist like He is. Isn't that amazing? I have always loved being creative, of feeling crazy and sitting with my felt & glue gun loving the mess of making something beautiful. There are times when projects don't quite turn out the way I see them in my mind though, where my talents come up short. That's ok too. 

Our limits can be a gift themselves. They should us what our passion isn't, what we shouldn't chase. And knowing what we shouldn't chase can be just as important as knowing what to chase.

'If you are a person who has received the sacrifice of Jesus in your place and who has a spirit united with His spirit, then your greatest purpose is to reveal His glory and your greatest grief is to violate His love.'

(A Million Little Ways, Emily Freeman p.121)

Guess I'll have to prayerfully consider which of the things in my life I have shared that are not to be chased. That is at least something helpful. 

This post is part of my 31 day series for the month of October, 
fighting through the fears and sharing the confusing passions I have. 
Hoping to figure out the bigger picture of all these interests.

Daring to Dream.

{Via}

I have been thinking a lot about dreams lately. About how I have these ideas I want to pursue. 

But something stops me from even sharing what they are, let alone chasing them.

It has been on my heart and mind a lot since talking with Rae about doing the Kite Project.

I really can't decide what holds me back from them.

Maybe its fear of what others will think, because as much as I try not to, other people's opinions do matter to me. Even if they shouldn't.

Fear of failure because I don't want to announce a dream I have and then fall flat on my face in front of a whole bunch of people. 

Fear of being vulnerable.

Writing about fashion and sharing cool finds is much safer.

So I'm not sure that I haven't been hiding a little these past few weeks.

Waiting out the busy crazy season in which sometimes I mess up big time trying to complete my million and one projects.

Everyone else seems to be managing so I don't see why I feel I can't keep up and cope.

So I say yes, to too many things.

I'm working on learning how to say no.  

Somewhere along the way I have been wrestling with the issue of understanding how me chasing dreams is really a God thing.

I have been searching through scripture because the last thing I want to do is chase something that I want if its not what He wants for me. 

Because I really do have these dreams.

Some big ones.

Some which make me shake because they scare me so much at the thought of them actually becoming a reality even though they are dreams which I really would love to have happen. 

And I've struggled with seeing how these fit with being the best wife I can be, 

supportive of my husband's own dreams,

and the best light for Christ. 

Then because he is amazing, God showed me through my morning devotional some thoughts on what He thinks of these dreams.

Throughout the Bible He revealed himself to his children through dreams and visions.

He even gave Joseph and Daniel the gift of interpreting dreams. 

So I really believe dreams are important to God, they are right there in scripture.

I realise that the scriptural references are to dreams while sleeping.

But are these not just our subconscious thoughts?

It is defined in the dictionary as the following:

dream

(Noun)

'A series of thoughts, images and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep.'

  

I really believe that if God reveals himself to us not only in dreams while we sleep, but also visions and dreams we have while awake.

He is not limited by something such as sleep. 

I have even had visions during worship, which I have sometimes been embarrassed to share

as not everyone agrees on the nature of these. 

But I truly know that these have been given by the Lord.

Especially since everytime I have been brave enough to share them, they have touched someone else who heard them. 

That has to be a God thing. Not me.

Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 that dreaming apart from God is meaningless. 

It is nothing. 

So I have been trying to be careful about checking my dreams are in line with God's agenda and not mine.

But this devotional reminded my that by laying my dreams out before Him 

and submitting to His will....

He will do more than I could ever dream.

 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

(Parable of ten Minas, Luke chapter 19)

Sometimes that might mean a dream does get removed or doesn't work out as planned.

But I would rather dare to dream and have it not come true than not live completely alive

to all the possibilities God has placed on my heart. 

As Rebecca St James writes:

'On the other hand, not being willing to dream keeps us out of 

touch with certain parts of our hearts, and therefore we live

but are not fully alive. I don't want to live that way anymore. I

want my heart to be fully alive and kicking - even if it does hurt at times.'

I don't want to grow older and forget how to dream like I did as a kid.

Or to settle for mediocrity.

I would rather keep dreaming.

Surrender those dreams to the Lord & see what He does with them.

Life may not ever look the way I dream it will.

But knowing Him, 

I have a feeling it will be even better.

So stayed tuned.

This girl is done hiding and is ready to see what God does with these big dreams.

Much Love,

L

The Kite Project.

This evening I have the wonderful privilege of sharing something exciting with you guys.
The Lord has promised us that He has plans for our future.
Perfect plans. (Jeremiah 29:11-12)
This is so reassuring when we find ourselves demotivated and unsure of where life is headed.


After all, we all have dreams which we want to chase.
I'm talking about God-given dreams.
Dreams about furthering His kingdom, things which we feel convicted to do.
Things in line with God's word.
It's how I started this blog in the first place.
I felt the Lord's leading and acted on it as I felt Him speak.


'For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 
which God prepared in advance for us to do.'
{Ephesians 2:10}


Each of us is equipped with specific talents and gifts in order to achieve God's will here on earth.
The more we desire God, the more we seek Him.
As we seek Him, we find Him and come to know Him (Jeremiah 29:13).
As we do so, we learn His will for all of us. The more we know Him and fall in love with Him,
the more we want what He wants here on earth.
When in this particular place, suddenly our dreams can be ways of doing the Lord's
work on earth instead of us just chasing silly things we want.
We become consumed with His plans for us and not our own.


We begin to dream about things to bring the Lord glory.
Often those dreams are scary.
But what if we could chase them together in community?
I will turn over to Rachael from Chasing Kite Tails to share the rest.

Much Love,
L


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November 12, 2012

When I was 13, God stomped flat the only dream that I had.

It was summer and I was an ex-pageant girl, celebrity-wannabe carrying around a two-week old diagnosed, rare disease.

"Rheumatic Fever," he said. And then, "No," I said.

No to my doctor. No to myself. No to God. No to this disease that had stolen my voice, stolen everything that I was and ever wanted to be.

No...to this disease. This disease that would change my life...in the most beautifully crazy and redeeming of ways...

We all have stories of dreams that went dead...plans that fell flat. Hope, suckerpunched from right out of our very hands.

You would be lying, if you told me you didn't. And I'd be lying to believe you.

You see, there's this crazy thought that we give into, a lie, I'd like to call it, really. And it's a thought that taunts and even torments the most of us. It's a thought, a loud thought that says, "I cannot chase God and chase my dreams at the same time." A lie, that says you must pick one, or the other.

For a long time, I lived in this lie. I listened to this lie. That, if I was chasing my dreams, I was forsaking God. Never once, never once did I consider. That maybe, just maybe.

Dreams weren't put in our hearts to push us away from God, but to pull us towards Him.

At 13, I was convinced that God took his elephant-sized foot to my dream so that He could hoard and keep me to Himself. Not once, did I think that He was actually setting me up for the Chase of my life.

My dear friends, where do you find yourself today?

Whether you're holding broken dreams in your heart, or unspoken dreams in your head, it is important that you know that they are there for a reason. Your dream might be there to teach you something or maybe it is in fact there for you to reach.

Whatever the case may be, it will always be a kite worth chasing after.

Click here to learn about how you can join The Kite Project and chase your dream.


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So consider joining us:
January 2, 2013 – February 27, 2013

Lets chase our God-given dreams together! To bring Him glory!