Tag Archives: dreams

Talk is cheap…

28 Saturday Jan 2012

Posted by in General, Sheila

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Especially when the topic is our dreams.

For if all we do is talk about those secret wishes that we hold in our hearts, then a lifetime might pass and at the end of the road we’ll realize that this leg of our journey is done with nothing to show for it except a pocketful of stardust.

And wishing on a star is not the stuff of which dreams are made.  At least not in real life.

While we must pray, talk, plan and visualize about our dreams, there comes a time for us to move out into the unknown.

Don’t just sit there anymore…do something!

And this step requires faith in our great God who provides the substance of things hoped for, although at present, the evidence is unseen.

Without faith, though, we cannot please him.  Without faith, our dreams may be stillborn.

And the enemy of the faith-fueled-dreams-in-the-making process, the thing that can most gunk up the works, is a mother lode of WORRY.

Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things? Luke 12:22-26

In faith, we trust God.  If He has put this desire on our hearts and encouraged it by the particular gifting He has provided and even confirmed our plans by the affirming words of others over a period of time, then God will open doors, clear roadblocks and take good care of us along the way to turning dreams into reality.

But God’s not going to do it all for us.  We the dreamers have to do more than talk.  We must act.  We must go.  We must change.

And that can require risk.

Scary!

Recently, Dearest Husband commented to me – his sometimes Jesuschickenlittle – that my home office contained multiple plaques about pursuing one’s dream.  He wondered if too many words without significant action would ever accomplish the intended purpose.

And he is right.  His words prompted more praying on my part and then this post.  A plan of action steps for this new year has been devised so that each month we move closer to realizing our dreams and living the life we have always imagined.  Thank you, my Michael.

Whether we take giant steps or baby steps, we must start walking now.  So keep to the path, one day at a time, and don’t stop till you get there!

For we all, made in Father’s image, are creators at heart, infused with the desire to imagine the possibilities if only we will believe…

Won’t you hold His hand and take a leap of faith?

Hey, we can hold each other’s hand as we journey into our Jeremiah 29:11 futures and who knows where we will be a year from now!

Let’s make 2012 the year when our longings end as our dreams come true, breathing life into a future He planned for us so very long ago…
~sheila

A new year beckons…plus tips on creating a vision prayer board

04 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in General, Sheila

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‘Tis the season for making New Year’s resolutions, yet oft times they wind up broken or discarded before Cupid even has a chance to draw back his bow.

Over the years that I’ve been setting goals for the upcoming 12 months, probably less than a handful have survived to be successfully implemented and achieved.

Resolutions, it seems to this writer, are centered on three persons…me, myself and I.

Perhaps it’s time to start a new tradition in 2012 by making praysolutions and focusing on three more important persons…Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Resolutions are a formal expression of intent, a firm determination to do something. And they seem to require self-will power.

Praysolutions, on the other hand, are primarily worship, a lifting up of all we are as we request guidance or assistance from Him who holds everything in His hands. All that’s needed here are open hearts ready to receive direction from the Wonderful Counselor.

It seems to me, this is one instance where it is better to receive than to give…

“This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:2-3

“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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity…” (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

The One who made our innermost being knows us best of all. He created each of us for a unique purpose. A purpose we are to fulfill on this earth while He prepares us for eternity.

And He knows the best way for us to accomplish our life’s purpose and exactly what we should (or shouldn’t) be pursuing in the New Year.

I don’t want to get to Heaven someday and hear it said that I had wasted the talents given me. I long to hear the words, “Well done!” And the only way I can get that gold star, is by knowing Him more and loving Him better so that I can hear and understand more clearly as He leads me to my longings end.

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

The last quarter of the year, though crazy busy, is a contemplative time for me. One for looking back and also ahead. Only this year, there was a twist in that I now have a life partner and together we have prayerfully created a new shared vision of our God given future.

To illustrate our praysolutions, Michael and I crafted homemade Christmas gifts for each other. He wrote a poem and I created a vision prayer board, both of which are tangible reminders of what we believe God has impressed upon our hearts as our life purpose. These gifts represent what we long for in the New Year and beyond…


Vision prayer boards are like vision statements only with more pictures than words. They are tactile reminders of the plans God has for us. On these boards, we can surround ourselves with images of who or what He wants us to become, or have: personally, relationally and professionally. Listening to Him, we fill our boards with the colors of our soul and pictures of the desires we believe He has placed in our hearts.

Tips for creating a vision prayer board:

  1. Collect old magazines.
  2. Select a cork board. (size to fit your dreams!)
  3. Buy a box of teeny common pins. (available at hobby/craft stores)
  4. Gather scissors and any decorative items you may want to use such as ribbons, buttons, sequins, markers, Bible verses or personal photos.
  5. Before beginning the process of creation (and this is the most important step), sit down with the Lord and still your heart. Ask Him what He has for you in the coming year.
  6. Tear pages from your magazines, including photos, words or headlines that apply to your vision.
  7. With your pile of pictures and words before you, allow His still small voice to direct your heart as you pin items on the board. Rearrange as needed, creating is a process. Decorate as you desire.
  8. Place the board prominently where you will see it daily.
  9. Thank God for how He is working in your life to bring about His plans for you.
  10. And remember to have fun as you follow His creative lead!

If you choose to create a vision prayer board, please feel free to email us@longingsend.com with a photo, brief paragraph of what it means to you, and your first name and hometown. As response dictates, we may devote a springtime blog posting to your vision boards. THANKS!

~sheila

Something bigger…

26 Saturday Nov 2011

Posted by in Healing, Sheila

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When trials swirl round us, tripping us up with their pain, fear or loss, we sometimes choose to bolster ourselves by declaring that “God is preparing me for something big” like a ministry that will help countless others and thereby, we think, redeem our suffering.

While agreeing with the tenet of that statement, I beg to differ.

He is preparing us, I assert, for something bigger.

And His definition of that is as far removed from ours as one might choose to stay from a mad dog.

After all, you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  Let this endurance complete its work so that you may be fully mature, complete, and lacking in nothing.  James 1:3-4

We often shy away from His something bigger while we pursue our own path on the wide highway, searching in vain for what we think will take away the emptiness of our souls until our eyes open and we see that all our venturing is without gain.

No matter our meanderings, though, He sticks with the plan.

He will use whatever means necessary — often allowing us to repeat cycles until we grasp that His Ways are not only higher than ours but precisely what we long for — to help us get off the merry-go-round we may have been riding for years.

And when we come to the end of our folly, in essence when we finally give in, fall in love with Him, and agree that He is “boss” – though the most tender, benevolent boss ever — we will be transformed. And we will find our true lives…

He will take our tiny, hard as stone, cold as ice, blackened hearts and resuscitate them until they nearly burst with light poured out, beating in sync with the rhythm of His own and filled to the brim with the love of Christ.

That, for sure, is His something bigger.

Something far, far better than any dreams we may have clung to believing they were our post-darkness destiny.

The slow burn of dying to self, though, is hard to swallow.

Loss and disappointment offer us a choice:  either become better or bitter, as a result of them.

A heart that chooses to lay aside its own agenda and rightly yield its pain, will find pure joy as it delights in Him and Him alone. Hearts, though, are stubborn buggers. At least mine is and maybe yours, too.

Obstreperous or not, one way or another, while living on this earthly orb we must learn to die. And He who loves us best of all will patiently make sure we do.

To “gently in thy fire…lie burning” until the sinful self absorption is fully extinguished. (from George MacDonald’s Diary of an Old Soul)

Seeking first the kingdom of God for no other reason except Him and Him crucified will become as natural as breathing. And then we can begin to sincerely love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbor as much as we do the person we meet every morning in the mirror.

And this great lesson, is often learned best through loss.

Harder still the lessons may be when we kick against the goad. Complain from morning till night. Bemoan our plight. And generally commit the sin that Jesus finds so reprehensible…self pity.

Poor little ole me. What about what I want? Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen. Nobody cares…

There is One who does care…while knowing troubles far worse.

There are other souls walking this planet whose lives are among the most wretched, showing us that our complaints are hardly worth a mention. Our spoiled brat hearts groan – sometimes over that which is relatively trivial — as our expectations are dashed against the granite cliffs of reality, plummeting us into a sea of abject despair.

As James reminds us, enduring through the trials helps us mature.  Isn’t it time to pull up the big girl panties and the big boy boxers and grow up into all He wants us to be? In choosing Him above self, we’ll fulfill our purpose and make Him smile.

So let me stop complaining, my Lord, when things don’t necessarily go my way. When unmet expectations lead to bitter disappointment. When I have to wait. When I am frustrated. When I hurt. May I trust in your goodness and your grace, knowing that for Love’s sake, you died. And for Love’s sake, you will allow me to die to self, and each of us who will heed the call and come to You.  All for Your glory and our own good.  Amen.

~sheila

 

Obstacles and dreams

20 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in General, Michael

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Are you finding that, as you pursue something you believe of importance and dear to your heart, you encounter all sorts of roadblocks along the way? Thank God for them! It may be their presence is meant to help you measure how badly it is you really want the thing you are pursuing and, without their clarifying help, you would find yourself wasting time in the chasing. It is only those dreams that we doggedly pursue, regardless of obstacles encountered, that have any chance of rising from the misty vapors of our imagination to take their beautiful form in reality.