Dreams Unexplored

This is American Idol!  With those words host, Ryan Seacrest, opens up a reality show where contestants pursue their lifelong dream of becoming the next recording sensation.  From one week to the next, each contestant sings his or her heart out putting it all on the line to avoid elimination.  Each week their dreams are in danger of being crushed as one by one they are voted off and only one is left standing.
Just recently, I witnessed an episode that brought me to tears.  One very talented young man was surprisingly voted off due to lack of telephone votes by the viewers at home. The look of shock on his face was evident. He was rocked to the core of his being. All seemed lost. However, he had one last chance to continue his quest!  His fate was in the hands of three celebrity judges. He had to basically sing for his life to continue in the competition, and the judges are allowed only one save, on second chance per season.
Just a few lines into his pressure filled performance, the judges waved for him to stop singing. Feeling that all hope was gone, he dropped his microphone to his side.  The look of total devastation on his face told the story; he turned ghostly pale.  He had reached the end of the road, or so he thought.  The judges quickly informed him that he would remain on the show because they saw in him great talent and potential.  The young man dropped to his knees, unable to stand and shaking because he was overcome with emotion. I will never forget the look on his face. It was not over!  His dream was still alive! He cried, I cried. He once again had hope for his much sought after future.
His transparency in those few minutes of time revealed to me how closely to his heart he held his dream of becoming a recording artist. Have you ever had a dream for yourself that evokes that much emotion in you?  Have you decided to pursue it or have you just given up?  Did you have a dream way back when, and now you can’t even remember what it was?  Life happened and dreams seemed too unpractical to pursue. Or are you just too afraid to even hope that it might possibly come true.  You shield yourself from anticipated pain before you even give your dream room to grow, fearing yet another disappointment in life.
I fall in the last catagory of excuses above for not pursuing my own dream.  It has been my fear that has forced me to keep my dreams on the back burner.  However, something about getting older brought a reality to me that time was slipping away, and it would be better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.  Regret was not going to be nearly as easy to live with.  And I definitely think that it was a matter of God’s timing as well.  So, with each post that is written you experience my dream being lived out.  To write in an encouraging format where God would be shared and glorified is my dream.  To be used by God in such a way is all I have ever wanted.  And the bonus is that I can use my passion for photography to showcase the beauty God displays in His creation as well!
Now, once again I ask, what is or was your dream.  It’s not too late!  Perhaps that dream was placed in you by God as a part of His purpose in your life.  If that is the case, surely you don’t want to miss out on that blessing and opportunity to honor Him. I can’t tell you the joy I have felt each time I sit down to write.
The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy!  Psalm 19:7 (the Message)
Why don’t you open the door you might possibly have locked your dream behind, pull it out, dust it off, and offer it up to God.  Denounce Satan and the fear he will most definitely try to bind you with, and see what happens.  Give your dream the air and sunshine it needs to grow.  Be willing to put forth the effort that everything or worth requires, and take that first step toward it, the step of faith needed to start the process.  Time is not standing still and neither can we. I encourage you to begin the journey, and God bless you on your way.  Thank you for sharing in my dream.  To God be the glory!
 

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