God-sized Dream = A desire in your heart for more of what God has for you.
We’re opening the door to God-sized dreams in 2013. So every week we get together to encourage each other {because don’t we all need it? yes, ma’am.}. This week Crystal Stine is here to share about God-sized dreams with you…
I began my journey toward discovering my God Sized Dream very selfishly. I read the invitation to join the God Sized Dream group and thought “That sounds exciting. I bet that will be good for me and help my blog grow.” Before I had even prayed about what this dream might be, the application was sent and out of my hands.
I thank God every day for that gracious gift. He took my scratched out entry, a dream I wrote and promptly forgot about, and has humbly taken me on a life changing journey alongside some incredibly brave women.
Those sisters? They are what surprised me the most about this God Sized Dream. God has taken my “what’s in it for me” moment and, through the beautiful and humbling refiner’s fire, brought it faithfully into the Light. It’s not that I don’t want to benefit from chasing my dream – I’m just more fully aware that most of the reward is the journey itself. I have also come to discover that God will not give you a God Sized Dream without also giving you a community of supporters, prayer warriors, advocates, and encouragers. And in return, He has taught me to be this person for others.
Which happens to work out well, considering that my dream is to use my words to encourage women – especially mothers – through writing and speaking (and as a full-time job, which is a piece of the dream that continues to prayerfully develop).
Sure, it’s been done before. Quite often it’s been done better and certainly with more success. But God has used the women in the God Sized Dreams community to push me forward. They make me brave. He has raised up from within a team of 99 two specific women who hold me accountable, cheer for me, have broken hearts with me, and always, without fail, point me back to the One who gave me this dream in the first place.
“When two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.” Matthew 18:20, MSG
God will not call you to chase dreams alone. Even before I knew that I had something to chase, God was opening doors and opportunities that would lay the groundwork for where I am today. He brought me to a community of fearless women who choose daily to lead by encouraging. He put me in front of a camera with some beautiful friends at a blogging conference so that part of my story, my voice…and oh yes…my laugh, would be heard by thousands of women worldwide.
The doors I never knew to pray for have been opened by God but held open with welcoming arms by others who help me to take that first scary step every day. My dream? It started out with such selfish intentions. But, by the grace of God, He has refined it – and me – in some hard and beautiful ways. It hasn’t been easy; there have been days of doubt, weeks of wanting to crawl under the covers and just forget about it all, but those sisters? They stand beside me with a virtual cup of coffee, a shoulder to cry on & so many prayers.
So now, can I encourage you? Keep on, friends. Chase your dreams – we’re right beside you.
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Crystal Stine is a wife, mama, and blogger. She is wonderful and I know would love to have you visit her over at her blog or you can follow her on twitter.
