Restoring Dreams

I'm reading Bill Johnson's Dreaming with God and it's such a relevant message.  Across the board I'm seeing women realize they were created for purpose.  God gave them dreams and for too long, the true defeated one has robbed us of those dreams.

Restoration is another message I see happening and with dreams, I think it means God takes back what was stolen and returns us to the place where His dreams are.  Not our dreams, His.  The dreams He formed within us when we were in the womb.  I am loving what I'm seeing.  There are grandmothers learning ballet or taking art classes, moms writing books, no matter the age they are embracing what's been inside them all along.

Can you relate to that?  Does redeeming dreams mean anything to you?  Restoration?

Years ago I remembered an interview with NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  As soon as he was born I'm guessing his destiny was sealed just by his name.  When his father died, the pressure was all the more apparent.  For the business, he had to drive, meet contract expectations, and do all the things a professional race car driver does.
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Thing is, I saw his eyes light up when he talked about a life far removed from the bright lights and fast tracks.  He admitted (at the time) that he'd love to just go down the street to an auto shop and change oil.  Even if it was minimum wage.

This from a multi million dollar brand.  He's not just a man, he's a business.  Yet his dream would be (again, at the time of the interview) to walk away and tinker with cars.

Chances are your name isn't Trump or Earnhardt and you aren't tied to the family business.  What's your dream?  Are you living it?  Can you feel the dream budding forth within you?  Tell us about it if you're comfortable.  We love comments.

photo by photobucket

 Julie Arduini is a writer and speaker residing in NE Ohio with her husband and two children.  Her first published fiction work is included in Delivered by the Peculiar People Postcard Project.  To see her complete writing and speaking resume, please visit her at her website.

Dispensers of Grace

Maybe I'm getting older, wiser, or more mature (I can at least vouch at the older part) but lately when negative news comes my way, I no longer feel like wagging my finger in disgust and writing that person or situation off. It wasn't that long ago I was a champion of sending political forwards off in rapid fire that would insult a candidate I wasn't voting for.

The last few weeks I felt God preparing me for something I'm not even quite sure of. I know the following words and sermons have hammered me though: perseverence. covering. dispenser of grace.

I watched the Saddleback Forum with both presidential candidates and left impressed. Both men are intelligent and passionate. They are in the position they are because they care. You can bet they will carry perseverence through these next couple months. Passion too. I found Rick Warren's questions well done and extremely telling.

Senator McCain sounded authentic when he admitted his biggest moral failure was his first marriage. Senator Obama was forthright on his stand on abortion. He could've spun it til the cows came home, but he even acknowledged not everyone is going to agree with where he stands. He's right, I am not on the same page on that issue, and to me, life is the top of the pyramid. If you are passionate for life, my thinking is you will have wisdom to take care of the economy and foreign relations. That's my opinion.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the interview and I felt the lines were clearly drawn on the issues and where voters will stand. Any hesitation I have is gone, I know where my vote is going come November. But the best thing of all is I truly want both men to prosper these next months and beyond. I wish neither humiliation, failure, or anything that is easy to get tripped up in during a presidential campaign. The Lord is molding me into what I see as a "dispenser of grace."

It's not just me, though. Over the weekend I read that Todd Bentley stepped down from the Lakeland outpouring and other ministry efforts. It appears that his marriage is in jeopardy from his own choices. I read interesting things from condemnation, sorrow, and everything in between.

For me, I hate when marriages are on shaky ground. I absolutely believe in having a covering and accountability for any ministry. I'm certainly not on the front row to anything in the limelight but I have a team that covers me and they have before I wrote one word for Him. Even with that covering I can't explain in words how hard I have felt attacked to quit, turn away or walk in the ways I used to travel. The very last thing I want to do is sneer at anyone going through such a public heartbreak.

Like Todd Bentley or not, people were radically healed. The glory from those healings go to Jesus Christ. And in my mind, the devil didn't want any part of that, so I'm grateful for all the people involved to date in the outpouring. I pray the healings continue---worldwide, right down to the Bentley family.

Wagging finger or dispenser of grace. Which would you like to be

Julie Arduini is a surrendered writer with her own blog, http://thesurrenderedscribe.blogspot.com/. A graduate of the Christian Writers Guild, she also blogs for the Christian Writers Forum Sundays as the mommy blogger. She is active with FaithWriters and has several writings ready to publish in different books and anthologies in 2008-09. One of the books will be a quote in Kathy Vick's Simon and Schuster/Howard's gift book, "Run Like a Girl."

You can also find Julie the third Thursday of each month over at Take Root and Write with her column, Finding Freedom through Surrender. She facilates a group by the same name at the sister social networking site, Christian Women Take Root.

To get to know her better, read her interview by Lynda Schab at:http://www.faithreaders.com/featured-author-details.php?id=33%20

To contact Julie, please use the e mail provided in our profile.