By Dream: a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal
If someone were to tell you that they were dreaming of something, what would come to your mind?
Would it be a wacky set of circumstances that take place while you’re drooling and snoring away? Or would you imagine that someone is thinking of doing something super far fetched?
Typically, that’s what comes to my mind too.
So often, I think we see dreaming as something that never has or never will take place, but I don’t believe that is all that dreaming is.
I believe that God gave us the ability to dream so that we can see ahead into the future. We can imagine things not as they are, but as they can be.
If we were to take everything at face-value, just as you see it, then we would probably never see potential in anything.
We wouldn’t be able to see the potential a home has before it’s renovated. We wouldn’t see the growth that’s possible for unbelievers. We wouldn’t see the things that God can make out of a not-so-ideal situation.
But when we dream, we can.
We can walk into an outdated home and say, “We could do this, move this, rip the carpet out, put this in…” and know that home has potential to be beautiful.
When we dream, we have the ability to look at someone and know that God can capture their hearts. We can look at a bad situation and know that God is going to turn it around.
Dreaming, simply put, gives us hope for the future. Yes, we should be content where we are, but sometimes situations are not ideal. And sometimes we have to say, “God, I know you’re here in this situation, but this is hard and right now I need some encouragement. I need to know you’re going to use this.”
And when we can picture all the ways God could be moving right now, all the ways God could use the things we go through, it gives us hope that this situation isn’t the end.
The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 that without a vision the people perish.
I think this ties right in with dreaming, because vision means “the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination and wisdom; a mental image of what the future could be like”.
So if we are to have a vision then we first have to dream.
So I want to encourage you this week in this: where you are is not the end. We always have a hope and a future, and our God promises us it’s a good one. So dream today. Grab a hold of your vision, and walk forward with confidence that God’s will is working out in your life today.
Maddisen Sauls is the smile and voice behind the Everyday Joy blog as well as the author of the Word of the Week posts and the editor of by leaps and bounds. Throughout her life, Maddisen has worked as a reporter for small town newspapers, a School Age and Preschool teacher, and has acquired her ministerial license.
An avid book reader and lover of the written word, Maddisen is passionate about using her favorite medium to reach the lost and the hurting, and to offer encouragement and hope to those struggling through life.
Following her battle with depression, Maddisen has made it her mission to help other people through this journey and to bring joy to the lives of the people around her.
You can find Maddisen on Instagram @maddisen.paige
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