God-sized Dream = A desire in your heart for more of what God has for you.
photo by khrawlings
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 Mary DeMuth is here to share about God-sized dreams with you…
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From Mary DeMuth…
When God first gave me the vision, I was in my twenties, raising little people, longing to write, speaking here and there. The vision involved me speaking to men and women, encouraging them, speaking about Jesus.
It’s been over twenty years.
And I’ve tasted bits and pieces of the dream, but not taken a full bite.
During my early thirties, I shelved the dream, felt it unreachable. But I felt that longing ache, that desire to see the whole body of Christ gathered together. I had things to say to men and women. But I didn’t let my words out. Not yet.
In my late thirties, I spoke at a staff conference for Christian Associates, our church planting organization, when we pioneered a church in France. I felt the energy of a male/female audience, felt it way down deep. And longed for more. My pastor asked me to speak about my book Building the Christian Family You Never Had from the podium, but they’d removed the podium, put me on a couch, and had the pastor ask me questions. I loved it, but I still had that longing for something more. This year, I had the privilege this year of keynoting at the Exodus conference and I felt that same thrill. Yes. This is what I was meant to do.
When I tell others of this crazy dream, most smile. Few affirm. My husband does, is fully behind me. My literary agent sees it and cheers. A few friends gather around this dream. But there are few models out there for women speaking to the church. There are pockets, yes, but not much precedent in your average Bible belt churches. Sometimes I feel like a pioneer, an interloper.
I don’t know when or how this crazy dream will be fulfilled, but I look forward to it. Like Joseph, I was very young when it was birthed, and a lot of life, trial, pain, and grit have happened in the in between times. I’m grateful the dream didn’t instantly come my way. I’m sure Joseph was thankful too. His pride, my pride, would’ve gotten in the way of God’s redemptive plan. God needs humbled, settled, broken folks to carry out His God-sized dreams.
So don’t despair if decades pass between the dream and its fulfillment. This is God’s economy, and it’s perfect. I’ll wait alongside you and cheer.
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Mary DeMuth is the author of 14 books including Everything: What You Give and What You Gain to Become Like Jesus (Thomas Nelson). She loves to write and speak about living an uncaged life. She lives in Texas with her teens and husband of 22 years. You can find her on twitter @MaryDeMuth or Facebook.
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Now it’s your turn!
Take this “do what you can” step for your God-sized dream: Share about your favorite nonprofit organization. They are all God-sized dreams in action. How have they inspired you? For example, mine is the Leadership Development Program from Compassion International because they’re releasing new God-sized dreamers into the world.
So we can all find each other, please include this God-sized Dreams button in your post. Also, love on your fellow God-sized dreamin’ sisters by leaving a comment on the post before yours.
For next week take this “do what you can” step for your God-sized dream: What part of your dream feels the riskiest? Have you ever had people misunderstand or disagree with your dream? What do you do when your dream is scary or when others don’t support you? Share about your answers to those questions in a post and link up here next week. {If you don’t have a blog, you can share in the comments.}
p.s. The winner of last Tuesday’s $100 Heart to Heart with Holley collection gift certificate from DaySpring.com is Kelsey Gillespy . Congratulations Kelsey! Email hearttoheart@holleygerth.com You can still get anything and everything from that collection for 20% off with my friends and family code, holley20. It’s a great spot to look for graduation gifts!
