My daughter has a great imagination. She makes up songs, creates adventures for her Barbies and has an imaginary friend named Emma. I am another story. I can handle playing restaurant, but please don’t ask me to make up stories about Barbie. All I can come up with is Barbie needs to go to the grocery. (Barbie must be a mom with hungry kids.)
The thing is, I used to have a great imagination, and I used to be a dreamer. I dreamed of being a vice president of a large corporation, living in a high-rise downtown and having dinner at some street cafe. I dreamed of the beautiful places I would travel to and the fun I would have. Granted, these dreams were a little self-absorbed, but at least I had dreams.
What happened to that girl? I think she forgot how to imagine and how to dream.
It happened so gradually. The realities of being an adult– of taking care of a family, managing a home, and working crowded out my ability to dream.
But, I believe God wants us to be big dreamers, as long as our dreams honor Him.
I love this passage from The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson:
“God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God. Why? Because they don’t require divine intervention. But ask God to part the Red Sea or make the sun stand still or float an iron axhead, and God is moved to omnipotent action. There is nothing God loves more than keeping promises, answering prayers, performing miracles, and fulfilling dreams. That is who He is. That is what He does. And the bigger the circle we draw, the better, because God gets more glory.”
Mark Batterson
If you’re ready to learn to dream again, to dream God-sized dreams, then here are a few tips.
10 Tips to Learn to Dream God-Sized Dreams
1. Pray for the right motivation. Pray that any selfishness or pride would take a back seat, and God’s plan and making him known would be first. Pray that He will guide you toward the right dreams.
2. Ignore what is practical and make room for impossible. It’s easy to shoot down our dreams at first thought because they seem too far-fetched or silly.
3. Dreams can be big or small. It’s a dream to become
4. The seeds of your dreams will line up with your gifts and talents. I am not great at science or math, so dreaming of finding a cure for a disease isn’t a great fit for me. But I am a good communicator, so dreams to write a book or speak professionally would be much better matches. God-sized dreams will take advantage of the gifts you already have.
5. God-sized dreams will serve others more than yourself. If the core desire behind your dream is to buy more things, be well known or have the approval of others, I’m not sure how much we can expect God’s help. The gifts and talents he gave us are to help others, not just ourselves.
6. Reawaken your imagination. You haven’t lost your ability to dream and imagine; you just aren’t using your imagination in the right way. Many of us use our imaginations to worry, not to dream. Retrain your imagination to focus on good possibilities, rather than bad. Read fiction books. Make up stories for your kids. Daydream.
7. Meditate on Bible verses about God’s plans for you such as Ephesians 2:10 and Jeremiah 29:11. He has great plans for us, but he requires our participation.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 NLT
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
8. Remember dreams don’t come true overnight. This may not even be the right time for you to pursue a dream. But you can start preparing. Want to write a book? Take an online course on how to write one. Want to go back to school? Research where you would like to go and what program you want to do. Start reading books on your field.
9. Dig deeper into the topics, causes
10. Dreaming is a process,
I would love for you to share even 1 of your dreams with me, because there is power in sharing dreams with someone else. Sharing them makes them real. Email me or send me a message on Instagram and tell me your dream.
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