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.

The $20K Life

(This is originally from my The Surrendered Scribe blog. I'm still learning off this message, and thought I'd share it).


I'm a vivid dreamer and I've long let go of the thought that it's a bad taco. I'll admit sometimes an interpretation doesn't come to me, but I pray and often one comes. It's rarely what I actually dream about, and it's always such a great life lesson that I know it wasn't anything I came up with. I totally give God credit for those interpretations (mine always line up with the Bible, not once have I had a dream interpretation tell me to leave my family or anything, just so you know).

Anyway, this dream and the interpretation isn't leaving me. Maybe you are in this situation too, so I thought I'd post it. If I already posted it, forgive me. I am absolutely grasping for the finish line called September. This summer is suffocating my sanity!

So here is the dream...

I am back in Upstate NY, arriving at a pawn shop at 6am. I know I only have 30 minutes because my husband has to leave for work by 7. The line is long and I have with me a heavy, thick black necklace to pawn. In addition, I have separate from the cross but at once attached to it, a cross. One side of the cross is a black cross, an actual necklace my husband gave me two years ago from El Salvador. The other side is not actual and was a white porcelain cross with a single rose on the cross.


Once I get to the counter my husband is with me. A lady waits on me and says that the cross is probably worth twenty, but she needs to talk with the manager. I think, hey, $20, pretty good for 6am.

The manager comes over and looks it over. With the white porcelain portion he says, this is a treasure. It is worth twenty. Twenty thousand.

Twenty thousand dollars!? Well I got so excited I woke myself up!

I prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to reveal the dream to me. Here is what He gave me:

The black double strand necklace is an albatross I'm allowing to hang over my neck. With it is the black cross that my husband gave me two years ago. The last two years have been challenging in many ways, and it's left me tired, worried, and skeptical. By clinging to the black necklace and the burden that hangs over me when I choose this life, I'm living the $20 life.

WOW.

The porcelain cross represents what I can choose. I can let go of the past and trust God. Life won't be easy, but by choosing Him over the bitterness of the past, I get the white porcelain cross life. That necklace was worth $20k.

WOW.

Ever since when I've turned my mind on the past or started to worry about the future, I remember I'm choosing the albatross feeling necklace worth $20. I want to live free from burdens, fear, and anxiety. I want the $20k life.

Anyone relate? I'm struggling, so don't think I have it mastered. If this is your story, try to find a picture or draw one of a white porcelain looking cross with a single red rose on it. Give yourself a visual that you want the $20k life over the $20 one.

I'd love to hear your comments and updates!

PS
The website is moving along. Check it out at JulieArduini.com. I also created a group page on Facebook and a separate Twitter account for my fiction story, Discovering Nancy Struthers. Check it all out and feel free to join!



Julie Arduini is a writer and public speaker residing in NE Ohio. Her website, JulieArduini.com, is set to launch October 1 as she shares her surrender journey online. You can find her most recent work in Kathy Vick's Run Like a Girl. She also moderates the Love Dare over at Christian Women Take Root and is a new contributor for the marriage channel at Exemplify. She lives with her husband and two children.

Wondering or Walking

Wonder . . . to think or speculate curiously, to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe, to doubt. Wonder . . . what are you wondering about today? A new job, falling in love, pursuing a lifelong dream, walking in your calling? We all spend time wondering, dreaming, wishing, hoping, and praying for the 'desires of our heart.' Often times we picture what life would be like if we actually fufilled those dreams, those desires . . . the picture may look rosy and filled with joy. Wondering . . . it can be a safe place to be and stay.

But what happens when the day comes when the Lord opens a door to one of those dreams? A friend shares a new job lead, you casually meet a person you may be interested in, a friend invites you to come and immerse yourself in her ministry, or your pastor asks you to be a leader? What is your response? Do you ignore it - brush it off with doubt thinking . . . oh nothing will ever come of this why bother? Do you ponder it eventually talking yourself out of it? Do you call everyone you know and get their opinion first before asking His? (I must confess I am talking to myself here.) Or do you pray, seek Him, talk to Him, listen for His voice, seek wise council, and start to walk?

To walk is defined as . . . to advance or travel on foot at a moderate speed or pace; proceed by steps; move by advancing the feet alternately so that there is always one foot on the ground in bipedal locomotion and two or more feet on the ground in quadrupedal locomotion. Walking, not running, where one foot is always on the ground!!!

A few weeks ago I began to walk in a dream, a calling, that I have felt for years. I traveled with two other women to Romania to immerse myself in a small, remote village so that I could feel and experience the needs of the people. Before I left I 'imagined' how my experience would look and feel . . . an image filled with love, appreciation, and smiling faces; however, what I soon discovered was my own insecurities and that fufilling a dream or calling does not always 'look' like what I imagined it to be and that takes it takes hard work, perserverance, strength, and guidance which can only come from heaven above. If I wanted to pursue this dream vs. turning around and running away as fast as I could (believe me this crossed my mind more than once) then I needed to slow down, to walk, even crawl, and keep one foot grounded . . . in Him, in His word, in His promises, in His presence, and in His love. I needed to depend and lean on Him and not my own understanding.

Now that I am home it would be easy and 'safe' to return to just wondering and re-thinking what 'my dream' would look like. That would be easy, that would be safe. And then the Spirit reminds me of a few things . . . the parables about the 'talents,' the dreams He has placed in my heart, and the faces of the children who are waiting to hear and experience the Good News. And I know that I need to keep walking.

(This photo is of the Roma children in the village waiting behind the church gate for our arrival.)

If you would like any more information about the work we are doing in Romania please e-mail us!

Blessings, Kim

Anticipation

Today is going to be a big day. I am waiting with high expectations. It is 8/8/08.

In June I had a dream and I saw the numbers 8/8. We were away from home at the time so when we returned I drew a heart around the 8th of August on our calendar and wrote 'God's Plan Revealed.' I had no idea what the date meant but I had high expectations of something big. A few weeks later I was on the web site of Morningstar Ministries, located in Fort Mill, NC and clicked on the forty day fast video by Rick Joyner. He spoke of a prophetic dream that Bonnie Jones, wife of Bob Jones, had. In the dream she was given a key that had 341 on it. Then she was told that is would be "40 days to the Joseph Company, August 8, 2008. (For more information and explantion please go to morningstarministries.org)

I had 'goose bumps' and almost fell off my chair. My first thought, 'Could God be revealing something to me too? Followed by, 'Nope. Not me. Not the doubter, the sinner, the swayer, the one with all the questions, and recently the one who had to confess that for several weeks I was angry and disappointed with God and that I had been avoiding Him, reading scripture, my prayer time and really questioning His existence. ' What a fool am I!

Well weeks passed, I waited with anticipation for August to come, and then disappointment came upon me through a personal family situation. And then more disappointment came, again. I told my husband if he said the word 'delay' one more time I was going to loss it. And with disappointment came doubt, not prayer, seeking God, or an increase in faith, but doubt. I was angry with God but I would not admit it. Instead I pushed it aside and let doubt abide. Then this past Wednesday came, it was time for small group. With tears in my eyes that evening, I confessed my doubts and layed them on the table for all to see. In many ways I did not even realize they were there until I said them. It was as though I had been running from them, 'keeping myself busy,' so that I did not have to feel the disappointment in my heart. Our facilitator asked me many questions, offered words of encouragment, and challenged me to seek Him and get back into my bible. On the ride home I felt challenged and the next morning I confessed my feelings to God and returned to His word. I felt like a lost child returning home.

Deuteronomy 31:8 says, "The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

In all my doubting, wandering, questioning, and pouting He still remains right here. Beside me, in front of me, and all around me. Thank you Jesus for the gift of forgiveness!

And so today I sit with Him and anticipate the day. At 5:30 god tv will be airing the service at Morningstar this evening. You can also webstream it live through morningstarministries. com

Come and anticipate with me, Kim

A Plan Just For You

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Some may say that I am a dreamer while others may say that I am not content, some may call me a visionary while others may say I am impractical and my ideas lofty . . . but I know what the Lord says, "I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."



Plans . . . hope . . . and future, such powerful words from Almighty God! He loves each one of us so much that he has plans for us, plans for you and plans for me. He has plans to give us hope and a future. Think about that! We were created with a plan in mind, a purpose, and a future to be carried out. Wow, how overwhelming is that!



Tomorrow morning I will be boarding a plane to attend a 'Summit' focusing on the orphaned. This is a burden the Lord placed in my heart many years ago that continues to get heavier and heavier. Others have tried to convince me that I have already 'done enough' by being an adoptive mother, stay at home mom of three , . . . but I keep going back to Jeremiah 29:11 and I know in my heart that His plans and purpose for me are bigger than what I can see in the present and what looks practical, aka 'the dreamer.'



What plans does God have for you? What drives you? What are you passionate about? What tugs at your heart? What brings you joy? What makes you 'feel alive?' Amidst all that you will find your purpose. And remember, He already has the plans drawn up! Blessings, Kim


Maria and Julie's note: Kim is now at this summit. Would you join us in prayer? We're believing God is going to clearly direct Kim's path in her love for the orphaned children. We can't wait to see what God is going to do through this!