We all have them. Or at least we HAD them. Can you remember yours? I can't. It has been pushed aside by the now and buried by the cares and concerns of day to day life for so long that I don't even remember what mine were.
I thought with today being the first day of the Olympics that it would be a good time to re-post and update this.
My thirteen year old wants to compete in Russia in 2014. She has the raw talent. She has the drive - and most of the time it is focused correctly. She has the commitment and determination. She doesn't have the finances. It is an expensive dream; approximately $15,000 a year and that cost will only go up as she improves. She has written a letter requesting sponsors and sent them to every local business and is sending them to every business that advertised during the Olympics on TV. She has a few. She needs more. Something as simple as money could get in the way, and she knows it.
Angelica, now 15, no longer wants to compete at the Olympics. That dream was stifled when she turned 14 and realized just how little time she would have for anything other than work and skating and school... she decided that skating was important but not that important... she wanted to have a life outside of the rink and have the opportunity to enjoy being a kid. Her current focus is sign language. She has been to a national competition for the last two years and is going again this year. She plans to become an interpreter for the deaf when she finishes college.
My now 17 year old has picked up her dream of going to the Olympics again. She saved all of her earnings from September to December to purchase a pair of boots and blades and has started skating again.(#78) She is working toward the goal of participating in the 2018 Olympics in South Korea's PyeongChang.
My fourteen year old wants to be a missionary in Africa. Actually, we know the country, but I have been told it is not safe for people already working there to mention the country in that context, so we just say Africa. She has had this dream since she was two. Yes, two. Before she made a commitment to Christ, she knew she was called. Her dream seems even more Olympic-sized now, since 08-02-08, the day of her accident. She is never without adult supervision. She must keep a consistent eating and sleeping schedule or she could pass out. She has constant headaches, daily dizziness, ever present fatigue. She is learning to add. Yes, I said add. But her heart still beats for Africa. Maybe hers would be better labeled a God-size dream. And it will take a miracle of God for her to get there, to be healed and strong enough to live the life of a missionary.
Miracle, now 17, is no longer sure that God is calling her to be a missionary. In fact, she's not sure where she's headed at all. I keep telling her that is OK, she has time to decide. Either way, the obstacle that was in her way when I originally posted this is no longer an issue since her brain is completely healed.
My now 18 year old once again is looking at mission work as I outlined here. She doesn't know exactly what God's plans are for her after the next two years, but she is willing to follow Him wherever He leads.(#79)
I think I am going to ask God to remind me what my Olympic-size dreams are. I am going to ask Him where He wants my life to go, who He wants me to become and how I can get there. It is time to remember and dream again.
After posting this, I remembered my dreams. One, to finish college and become a counselor, I may tackle when my girls go to college. I've got a lot of healing to do first, but I'm working on that. Another that God reminded me of has sifted to the back and keeps threatening to be forgotten again. No matter. If it is truly God's dream for my life, He will bring it to pass in His time. With that dream, I often remind myself that Sarah was 99 when God fulfilled His promise to Abraham.
Honestly, I am not sure what fulfilling God's plan for my life will look like. I spend so much energy preparing the girls to follow God's plan for their lives, that I have little left for my own. The Lupus has surely taken a toll on my energy levels in the past few years as well. I know that what God has planned, He will accomplish and that's enough for me right now. (#80)
What about you? Do you have an Olympic-size dream? Or do you need God to remind you what it is? Let me know and I will pray for you as we strive to reach our dreams.
I look back in awe at what God has done in each of our hearts... the direction He gives, the dreams He places in our hearts, the changes He makes in us to accomplish His will, and the realization that even when we think His plans have changed He brings it full circle and enables us to accomplish those dreams when we are ready to stay the course. (#81)
