It Started As A Dream...

“All men who have achieved great things have been dreamers.” -Orison Swett Marden

Now, you may very well say, “Which one, Kate? You’ve had so many.” Very true. I have had a lot of dreams of things I’ve wanted to do with my life, but this time is different. This time I am not letting what anyone says sway me, not friends and especially not family. Before I tell you what my dream is this time, though, I am going to share with you some of my past dreams.

The first dream or maybe better wording here would be aspiration, that I can recall having was of becoming a doctor. I’m so glad I decided not to, because hospitals really freak me out… so do blood, needles and doctors actually.=) Quite some time later, I toyed with the idea of becoming a massage therapist. This dream stuck for quite a while, but it soon fizzled out of my mind. I also went through this phase where I wanted to be a farmer.=) Yeah, honestly I have no clue what I was thinking with that one, but all I can say is “Hallelujah” that I got some sense knocked into me (not that I have anything against farmers, it’s just not the life for me). I stepped it up a bit after that and decided I wanted to be a Criminal Defense Attorney. At this point I was torn between doing that or going to culinary school, and eventually opening my own restaurant. And then, during this period of my life, I received the biggest aspiration of all.

I was sixteen years old and I was so frustrated because I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I was standing at the cross roads. Becoming a Criminal Defense Attorney to me meant that eventually I was going to rich, which sounded very appealing at the time. I would have money to do whatever I wanted. In essence I was going to live in the moment and live for myself. In biblical aspect I was going to serve the world and the things of the world.

On the other hand, though, I had the option of going to culinary school and opening up my own restaurant someday. This was like the exact opposite of going to law school. I had noticed the exceeding amount of homeless people living on the streets. These people had no hope, no one to believe in them, and a bleak future. I wanted to dive in and offer those people a second chance. So, eventually when I had my own restaurant, I was going to make it a point of only hiring homeless people. I was going to help them get cleaned up and give them a fresh start. I thought doing good deeds like this was self-less and would please God. Even though I cared very little about pleasing Him at the time, I did believe He existed and I sure didn’t want to be on His bad side.

It wasn’t until I’d had it that I even bothered to ask God what He wanted me to do with my life. I’d reached a point where I didn’t know what to do or which path to choose, and really all I wanted was a little direction. It was on a Friday almost a year ago that I cried out to the Lord and asked Him to tell me plainly whether I should be a lawyer or a chef. It was a heartfelt prayer, but I still didn’t care whether the Lord was glorified in my life. Even if the Lord did help me, I had no intention of living my life for Him.

Well, God did answer my prayer, though not in the way I’d expected. That very same week-end that I’d prayed my parents and I were going to a bible conference. I knew that somehow, someway God was going to tell me EXACTLY what I was suppose to do with my life. By God’s grace one of the preachers caught my attention right away, and I knew that God’s answer to me was going to be through this man. So, I sat listening and latching on to every word this man was saying. His topic was sort of threefold : Preaching the Word of God, Living the Word of God, and Trusting the Word of God. Every word he said made perfect sense to me, but nothing really hit home.

Saturday evening the same man was doing a session for the youth. He spoke out of some verses from Proverbs 1 and 2. He talked about how as young people many of us are standing at the crossroads in life, getting ready to make decisions that will effect the rest of our lives. And how that in Proverbs the crossroads are Wisdom and Folly. So, as young people we are about to choose which path we will go down, Wisdom or Folly. Proverbs 2:5 tells us what happens when we take the path of wisdom, “Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Good comes from following the path of wisdom. On the other hand, Proverbs 2:18-19 tells us what happens when we take the path of folly, “For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold on the paths of life.” Bad comes from following the path of folly. ( I’m sure the preacher said this a lot more eloquently than I just did.) Anyway, point being was that I needed to choose what path I was going to take.

You may be thinking that this is a no-brainer, but for me it wasn’t. You see, Folly has a way of making her path look so enticing. The path of folly for me was becoming a lawyer or chef, and essentially forsaking God and living for myself… it seemed like such a good idea. The path of wisdom was the realm of the unknown for me. I mean, of course I had the promises of God’s Word to go on, but that didn’t seem to help me with planning my future career choice.

So, I was faced with a life altering decision. All I knew was that by the end of the conference Sunday evening I was going to have chosen… ahaha… I was just thinking to myself that I should end this blog right here and make this a cliff hanger for y’all =). No, I won’t do that! =)

Anyways, the first session he spoke on Sunday afternoon was out of Ezra 4:24- 5:2. And man, before he started reading, I was sitting there thinking “Lord, what the heck does this have to do with me?” Well, God just does things different than we would expect. Ezra 4:24 says, “Then ceased the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of Darius the king of Persia.” The man preaching estimated the time from when it stopped to when it started back up again to be sixteen years. Then Ezra 5:1-2 says, “Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. The rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadok, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.”

So, I guess in a way condensed version what he said was this: the Israelites(? I think that’s who it was) knew what the will of God was, yet they ceased doing it for the space of sixteen years. So then God sent two prophets to tell them that it was time to start doing His will again. And would you believe it?… these three verses, and the way they were explained, is how the Lord spoke to me.

There I was sitting… sixteen years old at the time. I had been raised in a Christian home that fed on the Word of God. I knew what the Bible said, I knew God’s will for His people, but I had refused it all. But God had sent me these two men whose topics were so closely related, I kind of feel like they were my two prophets, to tell me that it was time for me to start living my life for Him. Isn’t it amazing how God speaks through His Word and through His servants? And at that moment when the Truth of His Holy Word dawned on me I chose my path. I chose the path of Wisdom. I chose to Live the Word of God! Well, I still wasn’t entirely sure what was down the path of Wisdom career wise, but at that point it didn’t matter. I was elated! A heavy weight had been lifted! I was going to live my life for the Lord! Nothing else mattered!

This joy carried on all throughout the luncheon, and when it was time to go sit for the last two sessions of the conference I couldn’t wait to hear what God was planning to do with me. The very last session of this preacher whom God had used, was all about Trusting the Word of God. You see, the Bible is filled with so many precious promises from our Savior to His children. The one that this man touched on was that God is going to conform His children to His image. He used this illustration: during his travels he once saw a sculpture of a beautiful lion… and he had the opportunity to meet the man who sculpted it. So, he said to the man, “how did you do it?” and the man answered, “well, that’s easy. I just chipped away everything that didn’t look like a lion.” Well, likewise God is going to chip away every part of us that does not conform to His image.

God began changing me from that moment on. He started chipping away at the sinful things in my life that did not conform to His image. Though there are times that I stumble, and times that I fall flat on my face, I serve a gracious and loving King who is always there to pick me up again. I cling to these amazing truths, knowing that one day I will be like the King I serve!

All in all this testimony gets me back to my dream, my ambition, and my highest aspiration. This dream is a raging fire that can never be quenched, it is my purpose for living, and it is my greatest pride and joy. No amount of naysayers or doubters could force me to recant. This dream and aspiration, my heart’s desire, is to serve the Lord, my Savior and Redeemer! And to be conformed to the image of His perfect Son!

There is nothing more important to me than to serve the Almighty and Everlasting Father! All earthly things shall pass away, but His Kingdom shall reign forever and ever!

I am a dreamer. My dream is my reality. And GOD is doing great things!

“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” -Philippians 2:20-21

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

- Philippians 3:14