Messages from God in Small Packages

Recently, I went to church on a Sunday morning and really didn’t want to be there.  That rarely happens to me.  I enjoy joining the Body of Christ in corporate worship.  It refuels my soul and deepens my love for the Savior.  However, on this particular morning, I just didn’t want to go.  I woke up not feeling the greatest, so I guess that would have justified if I decided not to go.  That morning I was substituting in one of the Sunday school classes, so I decided to tough it out and just go.  I made it through Sunday school and I felt like I couldn’t wait for church to be over. 
When I don’t feel well, I don’t like socializing.  Greeting time was coming up during the worship service, so I escaped to the ladies room.  After service, my goal was to get out of the building, talking to as few people as possible.   I made it to the car and shut the door, thankful that it guarded me from talking with the outside world.  Success!  Then, a 7 year old girl came over to the car.  I opened the door, wondering what she was going to tell me.  The first words that came out of her mouth were “I love you.”  Now, this isn’t the first time that’s she’d told me that and she knows that I love her too.  But when she said it on this day, I could hear the heart of God.  He was telling me through this 7 year old that He loved me.  I felt so moved and honestly wasn’t sure how to respond.  The words hit me very deeply.  I took a moment to ponder, then told her “thank you”.  (And I did tell her I loved her too.  She’s a great kid!)
This was the best part of going to church that morning!  And to think, if I wouldn’t have gone that morning, I would have missed out.  On the ride home, those words echoed in my heart and I felt lifted.   

For the Love of Writing

Writing is something that I love to do.  When I was a kid, I had a notebook that I wrote little stories in.  I remember that I wanted to be a writer someday (among other things).  When I started middle school, I stopped writing for fun.  I tucked away my notebook and never got it back out.  Last summer I found my notebook and read through it.  A couple of the stories made no sense and most of them were about a girl and her horse.  I guess that was pretty appropriate thing for me to write about as a little girl, since I grew up on a farm.  My stories were not that interesting or exciting, but I did find them to be cute.  For now they’re tucked away in a memory box and I’m sure when I’m an old lady, it’ll be fun to read them again.      

In college, I started journaling and that was something that I really enjoyed.  I have a stack of filled journals piled on the top of my bookshelf.   Journaling for me is purely enjoyable.  I love jotting down ideas or writing about the lessons God is teaching me and I find it therapeutic when I have a bad day.  From time to time, I pull an old journal off the shelf and read through it.  I feel like I’m morphed back in time, as I flip through the pages.  Some journals I enjoy reading more than others, but overall it’s neat for me to read through them to see how much I’ve grown as a person and in my writing style. 

Since college, one journal would last me a year or so.  (I think I was just stuck in a funk.)  However the past couple of years, I seem to be going through a lot of journals.  A lot has been going on and I don’t want to forget anything.  Even since the start of the year, I have done a lot of journaling.  Right now, I’m more than half way through writing in my second journal. Thankfully, a friend of mine bought me a big journal recently and I may need it sooner than I think. 

Even though I started journaling in college, I didn’t realize how much I loved writing until a few years ago.   The fall of 2009, God challenged me to write a Vacation Bible School curriculum for my church.  I wasn’t sure how that project was going to go when I first started it; it seemed like such a daunting task.  But it ended up being a wonderful time and I discovered a love for writing.        

Since then I write most of my own lessons for ministry and I’ve written stories for a couple of little girls at church.  I’ve loved doing that and I’m looking forward to more of it, because I just love writing.  My goal is to one day write a book and get it published.

I’m fairly new to blogging, but I’m hoping that this will be a creative outlet for me to write whatever seems to be on my mind, share lessons I’m learning, stories from growing up and any adventures I’m taking. 

Breathing for the Soul

Do you like to dream?   I love to dream!

How often do you dream?  If we were to talk about dreaming during sleep, I’d say that I dream at least a few nights during the week.  Maybe I do dream more often than I realize and just don’t remember.  When I do dream, it’s usually about the most bizarre things.  I often wake and wonder, “What on earth caused me to dream that?”  The dreams that I hate are the one where I dream I’m falling and I wake in a panic, trying to catch myself.  Then there are some pretty fabulous dreams that I end up waking up in the middle of, just when it’s getting really good.  I try to force myself back to sleep, hoping that my dream will pick back up where I woke at.  That never happens. 

How about other dreams?  Dreams of things you like to do or what you like to become?  How often do you let yourself dream those kinds of dreams? 

I think I was born a dreamer.  I remember when I was eight years old I had a dream to barrel race with my pony, Princess.  I loved going to rodeos and watching the cowgirls race around the barrels.  I thought it was so amazing and wanted to do it too.  I shared my dream with my Dad, who got some barrels and set them up in one of the fields.  I hopped on my beloved pony and headed for the first barrel.  It soon became apparent, that Princess didn’t share this dream with me and wanted no part of the barrels.  My dream ended at the first barrel. 

Then there was the dream of wanting to join “The A-Team” with my brother and our bikes.  We were going to change our names and everything – I was going to be Ralph and he was going to be Sandy.  (Why the name change and those choice of names?  Honestly, I have no idea.)  That dream nose dived.

A lot of my childhood dreams didn’t pan out.  They weren’t realistic.  I mean, what record label would want to sign a deal with a 7 year old who sings her lungs out to a Rainbow Bright cassette tape using a curling iron for a microphone?  Cute?  Maybe, yes.  And object for stardom?  Well, only in the hearts of my parents. 

My childhood dreams didn’t pan out, because they didn’t really hold a lot of substance.  There is one dream in particular that did hold a lot of substance and ended up defining my life.  It was a dream that came very early on; I was only about 3 or 4 years old.  And strangely it’s not even a dream that I remember talking about, but one my mom heard me talk about more than once.  The dream:  When I grow up I want to travel all over the world and tell boys and girls about Jesus. 

It’s pretty obvious that God stamped that dream on my heart.  The dream is two-fold: a heart of missions combined with a specific passion for children’s ministry.  Reflecting on this dream now, 30 years later, I see it has and is continually coming to pass.   I love, love, love living this dream!!! 

This dream is one that opens up so much dreaming within it.   What places do I want to travel to so I can tell children about Jesus?  I’ve already been to Zambia, Africa.  Soon, I’m headed to Ecuador, South America.  However, I don’t want to limit myself to just a couple places.....I want to go EVERYWHERE!!!!   And what I can do with children ministries in different places opens up a whole new dimension to this dream.  Pretty much, the sky is the limit!!  This is a dream I get to live the rest of my life!!!  The very thought of that gives me chills!

Dreaming about this dream or new ones that I find God placing on my heart is like breathing for my soul.  Breathing is something that is natural for us; we don’t even have to think about it - That’s how dreaming is for me.  However, some dreams do need some effort put in them, so think of it as your breathing during a brisk walk.  Then there are some dreams that require a lot more effort over an extended period of time.  It kind of reminds me of walking up or even running up a huge, long hill.  It’s hard work!  You’re huffing and puffing and at some points think you might die, but once you reach the top you feel so ALIVE!!!  Not matter how dreaming may come to me – easy or hard – the fact is, I love every minute of it!  Because the dreams God places in my heart are the ones I get to live out! 

I look forward to the dreams of today, tomorrow and the days ahead.  I hope I never stop dreaming.  Dreaming makes me feel so alive and I don’t ever want my soul to lose its breath. 

I. LOVE. DREAMING!