Where Dreams Are Possible
Are you pressed down and exhausted from opposition? Tired from a burning passion that will not leave you but you seem to make no progress no matter how much you work?
Don’t forget the friends who push you aside. Those closest to you stab you in the back. Yet, you know this dream? It’s a dream from God.
You know the scripture burning in your spirit calling you to follow after him. Yet, you see no fruit or reward after years of laboring in the fields of your calling.
Welcome to your dream!
A traveling prophet stood behind me years ago and spoke these words over me, “The people who are closest to you have stabbed you in the back. Not once, not twice, but three times. And you have said, ‘what have I done wrong, Lord?’ The Lord says, “You have done nothing, nothing, nothing wrong.”
And then he said these words, “welcome to the ministry.”
Years of serving in the background with no “worldly” acclaim or accomplishments to show are pretty much how the dreams of God go. Like David, you’re called and then you work on the backside of the desert shepherding sheep. It doesn’t matter if you’re an at home mom or a pastor with a pulpit.
You say, “In the beginning, I had this gift and everything was working out for me. I received awards, finances, and had motivation to work hard. Now resources have dried up. I haven’t achieved that dream God showed me. I’m older and tired from the battle. Was I wrong to believe?”
My clear vision was a book with a yellow binding sitting on a shelf.
After years of working on the craft of writing, publishing articles and contributing to a published book of devotions, I entered a women’s ministry. Myself and another prayer warrior had been interceding for this ministry several years and now we saw the ministry move into the building we’d prayer walked around.
A friend suggested I offer to mentor at this place and the Lord confirmed. So, I went in to apply for this position. To my surprise, I was offered a position as the Overseer for the entire mentoring department. I’d acquired my biblical counseling certificate after overcoming cancer and truly enjoyed seeing others healed from the word of God.
How does this tie in with finishing a novel? I’d worked hard at home day after day, in a makeshift space to write a rough draft of a suspense novel I’d thought was good enough to entertain and inform a reader. But, the book needed a topic. A focus. Something to make it stand out from other books in it’s genre.
In this women’s ministry a seed was dropped in my spirit, a lovely group of my peers prayed over this seed and it grew. The president and vice president of the organization supported me and blessed my decision to leave my volunteer position to write a novel about sex trafficking. I’d never imagined delving into the darkness of this world. First, to write the rough draft and next to fully research the topic. It was incredibly difficult yet rewarding.
Many people helped to bring this dream to full term. A faithful writer friend encouraged me, regularly. Then, my critique partners, professional editors, and of course the formatting and proofreading helped to hone the story into a final product. My ultra supportive husband and daughters helped me through the highs and lows of publication. And finally, the local bookstores in my area were helpful in promoting and selling the work.
Twelve years after I left the women’s ministry, Stealth was published. A labor of love it came in God’s time.
Two years after publication, I received a picture of my suspense novel Stealth from the booksellers at Barnes and Noble. The novel has a yellow binding and sits on the shelf next to best selling Christian authors, Jerry Jenkins and above Francine Rivers classic novel, Redeeming Love.
Do dreams come true? Yes, in God’s way and in his time, they do.
When we humble ourselves to serve in a way that makes no sense in the natural but puts no limits on the Lord he will surprise us with an unimaginable delight!
Ephesians 3:20
New International Version
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
