God has been nudging me lately about DREAMS and RISK.
He is saying to me that I need to do much more of both. My heart is saying AHHHHH!!!
Dreaming and risking are
SCARY
UNCERTAIN
DARING
BRAVE
OVERWHELMING
and more...
But God is still prompting.
I have found a friend in Mary in the New Testament. Yeah, 'Mother' Mary. In Luke 1 she is going about her own business, being a righteous and planned and noble woman just preparing to be married, and BOOM God interrupts and gives her a new path and a new dream.
"In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail." Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her." -Luke 1:26-38
Mary is visited by an angel who shares God's new dream for her path and I absolutely love her response. First she is filled with FEELINGS and then filled with QUESTIONS. She allows herself to respond to the hugeness of this vision and then works through it by asking questions to understand more. I think it's so important to allow space to work through the huge things God asks of us and then follow in Mary's footsteps by saying YES with obedience.
But what strikes me the most is the promise the angel gives Mary. He says that the HOLY SPIRIT will OVERSHADOW her as she goes to accomplish this dream. The only other place this word is used - OVERSHADOW - is when the Shekinah glory appears in Exodus and when the transfiguration appears to the disciples. It is an other-worldly, completely holy, life-changing appearance of the triune God that changes everything. Mary sees in that moment that the HOLY SPIRIT in great presence is what will allow her to accomplish the dreams of God.
So as God as been prompting me to dream dreams and visions, I ask you, WHAT ARE YOU DREAMING? And, have you allowed God to give you HIS dreams for your life?
“If your dreams don’t scare you then they aren’t big enough!” -Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
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