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Hi I am a Christian, a nurse, the mother of two grown children and two grand daughters, one grandson, and 3 dogs. I love people and have a huge heart. So why am I blogging? Well I've been told that I need to publish my writings. This seemed to be the easiest way to do that. Also, I want to get out there and live life to the fullest. Empty nests are great because now I get to explore the world. I'm starting right here on my computer. So come along with me and as I learn to fly we'll soar together!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

10/15/10 dreams and desires



Ok word for the day from Cory Tin Boom, is:  Hold it all loosely. 
And I said: Let God hang on tight and hang on to Him instead. – a reminder to myself also.

Interestingly enough the focus on the family program today had Phil Vischer on talking about the loss of his dream.
It seems that he had this desire to do story telling and this desire developed into a dream.
All along he assumed that God had given him this dream so he acted on it and ran after it in order to serve God by doing it.
Things fell apart and he ended up going belly up losing it all after a resounding success initially.
During the time he was doing veggie tales he continued to believe that God was behind this venture.
He devoted himself to it and was convinced that he was working for God.
When things started to go south he kept believing that God would come to the rescue on the proverbial white horse and drive away the enemy.
But God didn’t.
So he not only found himself financially ruined, emotionally ruined, but also spiritually ruined.
Why had God not blessed what He had put in Phil’s heart to do?

Phil explained.
That desire – to become the Christian version of Walt Disney – was not a dream that God had given him, but one that he had developed based on his desire.
The desire was from God, to tell stories to kids about God.  The dream that it developed into was not.
The dream became an idol.
The idol became God.
So God had to get rid of the idol.
And now Phil is free to pursue his desire, which is not the same as pursuing his dreams.
In America we worship dreams.
We have placed dreams on a pedestal and we worship them.
Now days Phil does not have dreams, he has ideas.

He said that if the idea is good it will fly, if not it will die.  Either way he’s holding onto God and not the dream.
God will bless what is His dream.  Phil will pursue God by fulfilling the purpose he was made to be.  

After one of his lectures a lady came up to him in tears. 
She was a mother, all she ever dreamed of being was a mother. 
She had just dropped off her youngest at collage. 
She didn’t know what to do now.
She had lost her dream.

Interesting how very similar dreams and desires can be, and yet to dream the impossible dream.....  quite a bit more elevated and not actually reachable maybe?


How do I apply this to myself?
Well first of all I have to ask if I’ve been pursuing a dream rather than a desire.
If my dream has been elevated to the position of an idol or not.
And if so how can I recognize the difference and let go of the dream that is mine, but hold on (loosely) to the desire that God has placed in me.
If my dreams have not come true it’s a good indication to me that they are not what God has put in my heart but rather a product of my own – designed to fill up the place that only God can fill.
Yeah
Designed to fill up the place that only God can fill.
It may seem like a fine line there, desire vs dream, but it’s not.  One is a bud and the other a garden.
So yes.  Guilty as charged. 
While there is time and season for everything under the sun, depression is a state of continuous grief over loss – either real or perceived loss.
Yeah, I have cause for grief.  Long years of losses give me cause. 
But what if some of those losses are in reality the death of dreams that I manufactured to put on that pedestal?
What if I’ve substituted those lost dreams for God and have worshiped them rather than Him?
In truth there have been many things to grieve over. 
But none as big as my God.
And nothing that He could not heal.....if I’d let Him.
Do I hold onto that grief in order to keep from pursuing Him the way I need to?
Good question.

So what of my dreams?  I guess some sorting is in order.
Maybe there will be clarity if I can sort this out some?
Because if I can let go of those dreams and hold onto Him instead I’ll be able to figure out my purpose and how to walk into my desires rather than bemoaning the loss of those dreams which He did not give me to begin with.

Maybe winter will not be so bad this year after all.........

This bin for dreams, that bin for desires.
Go.




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