Resurrecting Dreams in the New Year

I see her face.  Round.  Long hair, lain upon her shoulders. I saw her long ago, but didn’t know her name. Still, the picture stays tattooed some place deep where I can’t see.

God-prints aren’t ever rubbed raw, get old, don’t die down with time and oppression, and with a life lived warn, like jeans frayed from hard-pressed experiences.

We sit on the couch.  Watch the Nativity Story about how Mary heard a child would be born, from an angel, Gabriel.  And how Joseph had a dream confirming everything about Jesus, enough to where He stays with pregnant Mary, allowing her take his name…even though she had conceived a child in the most miraculous way.

• Joseph has another dream, to escape Bethlehem, just before all the children get slain.
• The wise men have a dream, telling them not to take the message that they have found the chosen child in Bethlehem back to Herod.

And I think about this twenty first century.  This, “let’s get it right, analyzing and calculating life”. This work hard, educate, figure out the right way…BEFORE following God.  And yet, the Bible is full of examples of how God has always talked to those He loves through visions and dreams, burning bushes, and revelations that don’t always make sense.

• Samuel heard a voice from heaven, calling His name.
• Pharoah had a dream Joseph interpreted.
• Joseph had a dream of bowing brothers as a child.
• Jacob had a dream of open heavens, with angels going up and down a ladder.
• Daniel had dreams and vision of future kingdoms.
• Pilate’s wife had a dream that Jesus was innocent.
• Paul had visions and dream calling him to preach in Corinth and Macedonia.
• John had a vision, leading him to write the entire book of Revelations.

On and on goes scripture sharing about how people were led by the words, calling, prompting, dreams, and visions of a God that doesn’t always make sense.  And yet, we sit frozen, fearing mistakes, begging for confirmation after confirmation before stepping out where He leads.

I don’t understand the dream. I sit on it, nearly a year.  Praying for the girl I had seen.  The one God shone light on her that night. The one I imagine God shows delight in…and all I think of is His beauty.

And as we age,  I think we can play cautious, treading slowly, fear making a mistake or being made a fool of by many.  So, we toss our dreams to the side, tuck away our passions and inspirations, cover over any dreams, visions, or calling until everything is laid out perfect, or until we can predict stepping forward and not falling into a pit that might make us look stupid…or worse yet, inaccurate, or unspiritual.

But God says, greater are those that have not seen with their physical eyes, and yet believe.  Those that hear the master before them, and by faith step out on the seas.  Those that scribble down what He is saying…in case somehow, someway, somewhere….what we see in our minds eye might be a real picture of something He longs to do in us in the future.

We don’t choose kids anymore as foster parents.  We wait, and pray, and let God choose who He wants to bring into our family.

• We sold our old house because of the story of Abraham, calling Him to “go” though He didn’t know where. (This was at the the peak of the market)
• We purchased this house because of two dreams, one from my son, the other of my husband.(This was after the recession hit and prices dropped drastically, allowing us to invest the equity we earned in a house that would only go up in value)
• We got our adopted daughter out of a strategic dream given to my older daughter, showing us how to pray.
• We received this new placement because I saw her eyes in the night and when the placement called, they spoke the exact words God, a few night earlier had just shared with us.

And I am ever so thankful for each one of these decisions made not by us, but by the God-prompting calling us in directs that might not have gone if God wasn’t in it.

And where our life had once been about wanting what we want…slowly seeing our lives transformed, little by little, loosing our grip so that He can work through us has been the greatest miracle of all. Will you join us in living ever increasingly abandoned to Him?

Cause I don’t want to run my life, walk forward, write some New Year resolutions about how I think my year will go.  I want Him to own my thoughts, my dreams, my ideas…opening my hand to a God who knows what tomorrow brings, whose dreams are greater than anything we could imagine or think for us. 

Will you join us in committing this year  to uncovering those God-dreams He has given you so long ago? Abandoning your plans and giving your year over to a God who longs for you to know the depth, and width, the fullness of His hope?