Dear God-sized Dreamers:
I know what it’s like to dream.
I also know what it’s like to decide that the dream will never ever come true.
- To think I dreamed too big.
- To conclude that God must be teaching me humility.
- To stop trying so the disappointment will quit hurting (...quite so much.)
I wrote my first book when I was 2 years old!
Okay, so I dictated it to my “publisher” (my mom) and provided the illustrations. But I dreamed, deep down, of someday writing a real book.
During my elementary years, I wrote dozens of stories and “novels.” During high school, I kept dozens of detailed journals.
When I was 23, I attended my very first writer’s conference. I returned home and got to work, sending out queries which led to requests which turned into my first published (and paid for!) articles!
Then, life got hard.
- Jonathon came early.
- Daniel’s father passed away suddenly.
- Marriage required more than either of us had to give.
- Teaching consumed our lives.
I quit writing.
Oh, I still attended occasional writers’ conferences, but all I took with me was the dream that someday, I would write a real book.
No query or one-sheet or business card. I still couldn’t bring myself to write. In fact, I became convinced that I had no right to write.
I knew the truth about me: that I was a lousy mother, a rotten wife, and a terrible teacher. Nobody would ever read what I wrote, even if I did write it down. And even if they did, they would mock me for thinking I had anything worth saying.
Then came the breaking point when I gave up and told God I couldn’t do it any more and offered Him a year to do whatever He wanted with me.
During that year, more than a decade ago, healing began.
- I started writing again, this time to reflect on what God was teaching me. To record, in permanent ink, His goodness and faithfulness.
- I wrote out my testimony for the very first time, drawing from my high school journals as I shared my inner thoughts as a teenager sinking in the depths of an eating disorder.
- As my mother’s Alzheimer’s progressed, I began exploring our relationship through poetry.
One year ago, I attended a women’s retreat where I met Andrea Coli, our MC for the weekend, whose book about what improv taught her about God led to my first solo performance.
That solo performance sparked a book title which turned into a book proposal which became a book contract.
After half my lifetime, my dream of writing a real book is actually coming true!
But the book isn’t the best part.
The best part is looking back and seeing oh-so-clearly that none of the time has been wasted.
That this book would not have been possible 23 years ago...or even 3 years ago.
That God has led, dragged, and carried me through all the challenging years so that I am ready to write this book at this time.
Yes, I know what it’s like to dream.
And I now know that the book (or whatever your dream happens to be) isn’t the best part of having the dream come true.
The best part is the work God is currently doing-–right now, today, this very minute!–-in your life to ready you for the fulfillment of His dream.
His dream for you and through you.
His dream for you and through you.
And when that dream comes true, as wonderful as it may be, the best part will be the God-sized story that comes with it!
This week, I'm giving away a copy of Holley Gerth's new book You're Made for a God-Sized Dream. To enter, simply leave a comment here on the blog!
Your Turn:
- What dream(s) have you had that have come true?
- What dreams are you still waiting and working on?
- What has God taught you in the God-sized dream process?
