Have you ever had a dream or a desire to do something and only to have that dream squashed by the people around you? I remember telling someone when I was a little girl that I really wanted to model clothing, and I remember that dream instantly being completely and eternally crushed – to the point that I never mentioned it again…until now.
This dream or desire didn’t come out of nowhere. It wasn’t a whim decision. I didn’t watch a movie and suddenly decide that this was what I wanted to do when I grew up. It was a true desire that I actually had a little bit of experience in.
When I was a little girl, I did a little bit of modeling for a local department store in the town that we lived in, and I remember loving it! I learned how to stand, walk, twirl, and strut my stuff. Did you know that models have to be able to walk down steps without looking down at them; while looking over the heads of their audience as if they were looking straight at them; all the while not tripping, falling, or showing panic in any way? There was a lot of training and practicing involved, and I loved every moment of it.
This lead to my dreaming of becoming a model one day, and that was what I thought that I wanted to do when I grew up. I loved being on the stage. I loved all the clothes that I got to wear, and I just felt really pretty when I got to dress up and wear all the pretty dresses that were currently being sold in that store. One of the best perks was that I actually got to take home dresses that I wore. I remember very vividly one of the dresses that I got to model. It was knee-length, maroon, and white lace decored all the edges. I wore that dress EVERY Sunday to church! YES! Literally EVERY Sunday! My mom would try to get me to wear something else, and there was no way I’d even think about it! I wore this dress EVERY Sunday! I’m positive that there’s a picture somewhere of me wearing it.
Then came the time that I revealed my long-term dream, and I remember it very well! I remember that person looked at me and said, “You will never become a model because you are too short!” I was shut down immediately! I remember going to my room and bawling my eyes out, and that was it! I NEVER again said that I wanted to model.
I wonder what would have happened had I not listened to that one person who told me that I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t multiple people…it was just one. I wonder what would have happened if I would have pushed through; ignored that person and said that “This is what ‘I’ want to do! This is the dream that ‘I’ have!” I may have gotten into it and figured out that it really wasn’t what I wanted to do after all, but that would have been MY choice! I am sure that none of the experience that I would have received would have gone in vain.
In Genesis 37, God gave Joseph a dream. Note that the Bible doesn’t say that God also gave his brothers that same dream. He only gave Joseph the dream. Now, I know that the main reason that Joseph’s brothers rebelled is that Joseph told them that they were eventually going to bow down to him. Can you imagine if your brother said that to you? However, when Joseph told his brothers about his dream, they immediately laughed at him and squashed it because God had not given his brothers that same dream. His brothers didn’t know what to do with Joseph’s dream, so they made fun of it; told him that it would NEVER happen; that it was impossible.
I wonder how the story would have gone had Joseph taken his dream to someone who would have understood it; someone who could give him the advice he needed to make it happen because that particular person had “been there done that.” I wonder if Joseph’s journey to being second in charge would have taken a different journey had he just told a more experienced, supportive, and wise person about his God-given dream.
Genesis 37:19 tells us that Joseph’s brothers shouted out, “Here comes that dreamer!… Come now, let’s kill him… Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
I’m wondering how many of you have had your dreams killed by someone who has told you that you can’t do it. How many of you have been told that your dream is impossible, stupid, completely unachievable? You could have been told this by either by a parent or by someone else close to you. You could have heard it from a supermarket stranger that you struck up a conversation with while you were waiting for your turkey at the deli. How many times have you gone to the closest person to you to get advice on your dream; only to have it suddenly + instantly shut down? It’s at that time that you needed to know that God had not given them your dream. God gave YOU your dream. They don’t see your vision. God does. They don’t have the heart you have for it. God does. They don’t have that same desire and passion that you do. God does.
If God has given you a specific dream for something then you have to know that He’s not going to abandon you. He’s not going to leave you. God’s going to help you see that dream through. When He gives you a dream, it’s like He’s saying, “Hey! I have an idea! Wouldn’t this be cool?!? Let’s do this together!” He’s not going to say. “Hey! I’m giving you this dream, and by the way, you’re going to do this on your own. See ya!” … “Here’s your dream, dude! Bye, Felicia!” “Let me know how it works out for ya!” Heck No! God is going to be there every step of the way, and He’s going to help you see that dream come to pass! So, when God has given you a dream, and you need to seek advice or you need to tell somebody, go tell somebody who is ALREADY doing the same thing or something similar; someone who can understand. Someone who can encourage you. Someone who can advise you. Someone who can push you along. This is YOUR dream!
This time of year there are a lot of graduates – high school graduates, college graduates – of all ages, who are trying to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life. There’s a chance that some of you have already had some of your dreams crushed by parents, professors, or friends. Maybe some of you are feeling like you need to fulfill your parent’s dream instead of your own. If you have a dream, you have to remember that chances are that God has not given your parent, or professor, or your friend that same dream. God has possibly not given your sibling that same dream. So they are probably not going to understand.
One of my absolute biggest fears is regret. This is not a FOMO fear (the fear of missing out) I’m ok with missing out on things. This is more like a fear of not taking risks because I’m afraid. I’m not afraid that I’m going to regret doing something. I’m afraid that I’m going to regret not doing something. I know if I don’t do certain things, I’m going to regret not doing them. I’m going to regret not spending enough time with my husband and kids. I’m going to regret not fulfilling the passions that God has given me. Those are my biggest fears – the regret of not doing something that I could possibly love, or not doing something that I feel like God is putting on my heart.
My kids and I were watching the movie, Jumanji. It’s not the original one with Robin Williams. It was the more recent one. You know… the one with Dwayne Johnson, and, the school principal, Principal Bentley, actually said something that ended up being referred to a couple of times during the movie. He said,
“This is what you should be thinking about:
who you are and who you want to be.
You get one life and YOU decide how you’re going to spend it.”
If you’ve been listed for a while, you know that our biggest passion for our podcast is to encourage you to live the life that you love living, and one way that you can do that is by actually fulfilling your life’s dream. My encouragement today is to tell you that YOU get ONE life, and YOU get to decide how YOU’RE going to spend it. YOU get to decide if you are going to spend it fulfilling YOUR dream or fulfilling other people’s dreams. That is what YOU get to decide, and once you decide that you are going to fulfill YOUR dream, then nothing should stand in your way!
I encourage you to seek out people who can encourage you and not discourage you. Seek out people who understand and not those who don’t. If you haven’t already, listen to the podcast titled, “Dream Crushers: Not allowing others to shatter your dreams.”
I really hope this encourages you today. Leave a comment, and let me know what your dream is and what steps you’re going to take toward that dream. I would love to hear from you!
Bonus:
In the podcast, I talked about a mattress that my husband and I bought a few years back, and we still totally LOVE this mattress! We would consider this mattress to be a competitor of a more expensive line, and once you visit Amazon, you will know exactly which competitor I’m talking about. We saved literally thousands of dollars with purchasing this mattress, and WE LOVE it! That’s why we’d like to share it with you. Check it out in the link below just by clicking on the picture, and it’ll take you straight there. Read the reviews, and decide for yourself. I talk about this mattress more in the podcast, so give it a listen to hear what I said; then check it out for yourself.
