April 17, 2006
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“Tell God all that is in your heart. As one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains to a dear friend, tell Him your troubles that He may comfort you, tell Him your joys that He may sober them, tell Him your longings that He may purify them, tell Him your dislikes that He may help you conquer them, talk to Him of your temptations that He may shield you from them, show Him the wounds of your heart that He may heal them, lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved taste for evil, and your instability. Tell God how self-love makes you unjust to other people, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself and others also.” –Francois Fenelon, quoted in “Falling in Love with Prayer” by Mike Macintosh. He is the pastor of my Aunt and Uncle’s church. He gave my brother a stuffed animal on Christmas morning. I will respect and appreciate that man for the rest of my life for that. Amazing what a small present given at the right time will do.
Easter was good. I bought 30 eggs (unfortunately, I picked the rotten ones…hey, how the heck do you know if eggs are rotten or not? Especially in Brasil where they never refrigerate eggs. That is just scary) with the idea of hard-boiling them and having an Easter egg hunt. Traditionally, they don’t do that in Brasil, so I figured it would be a good lesson in American tradition. I told Heather about it, who looked alittle worried…the kids would think it was alittle weird looking for eggs if they were not chocolate (chocolate eggs are HUGE deals here), and then told me we couldn’t hunt them outside because of scorpions, snacks, and tarantulas that live in the bushes. The night before the egg hunt, Heather and Alyssa decided to blow out the eggs, fill them with candy, and then cover them with fabric (they don’t sell plastic eggs here that you can fill. Who would have thunk it?) which took FOREVER and a day. But the kids loved it, even if they didn’t get the plain old hard-boiled eggs.
I went with Tele and family to Candeis—the apartment in
I’ve been reading “The Dream Giver” by Bruce Wilkinson. Good stuff. This is my summary from the story, and I am amazed to see how this is exactly the path I’ve traveled…and AM traveling. Whoa. I always get alittle slap happy when I see a pattern in life. It always looks so much better to have it down on paper.
- You start off an ordinary, normal person living a familiar life
- Then comes a nagging feeling that something is missing
- You have a big dream to meet a big need in the big world
- You tell someone and they doubt you, so you keep it to yourself
- But it builds up until you’ll burst if you don’t share it–you realize that you were BORN for this
- You finally give in and decide you will do whatever it takes to go after your dream
- You tell everyone about your dream
- You make sacrifices and changes for this dream, leaving your comfort zone
- You realize that to do what you love most, you have to do what you fear most
- You hit a wall of fear
- In God’s strength, you pass the fears and feel amazing freedom
- You run into boarder bullies…people who want to protect you, people who don’t believe you, people who don’t want you to change things, or people who just want to stop you from reaching your dream right when you are on the boarder
- You also run into boarder busters…people who dream with you and help you understand the truth and not doubt
- You try to explain and persuade the boarder bullies to understand, but you continue on no matter what
- You enter a time where you cannot see your dream and things seem to go on and on and you can’t see God. You feel alone
- You become angry with God—where are His promises?
- God gives you faith to go one step at a time without seeing more
- Slowly you begin to see how God was working and providing and WITH YOU the whole time
- You receive an invitation into His presence. You feel Him close
- You walk into the light and God reveals your impurities and washes you clean
- You become so close to God you feel like you are one
- You finally see all the promises and Your dreams
- God asks you to give back your dream to Him—you have a choice—your dream or God
- You struggle and surrender and walk away from your dream knowing God is enough
- God gives back the dream in a new and real way
- You begin to face “giants”—problems and obstacles before you are ready for your dream
- God gives the Holy Spirit and His Word (truth) as your weapons as you begin the spiritual battles
- You have fellowship with other Christians who are fighting along side you
- Each giant (problem, opposition, obstacle) is an opportunity for God to give honor and receive glory
- You learn to fight for others and take on their giants in Christ
- You feel a certain need and begin to try to help—it hits your heart and you can’t ignore it
- You realize that THIS was the big dream you had all along
- You work hard and are fulfilled doing what you love to do the most
- You are joined by other dreamer and teach others how to dream
- You are called away by God to begin the whole process again…leaving everything familiar and digging deeper, finding a new facet to this amazing dream that God has given you.
Wow. What a life.
