The Feast of Your Dreams

Let’s say you’re invited to the White House for a once-in-a-lifetime dinner gala. Of course you buy a new dress and wear the most painful heels. But the dinner rewards you a hundred-fold. It is nothing short of spectacular. You eat five courses of endless deliciousness. Every bite of each dish is proof that you’ve died and gone to heaven. Exquisite flavors. Divine delight. Nothing was held back in the preparations for this fine feast! Now, what if you were given the original recipes that the chefs used, and you wanted to go home and recreate each of them so that your family could taste what you did? The task may seem daunting. You don’t have the same expensive cooking tools or equipment. You don’t have access to the rare ingredients that were used. You don’t have the time, and you certainly don’t possess the cooking prowess.

There in your own home, the flavors fading fast from your tongue, you’re tempted to settle. You want to make substitutions and take shortcuts. In the end, you’ll serve the meal on your worn and chipped dinnerware. You may have started this task with gusto, but along the way, the difficulties cause you to shrug your shoulders and settle for something that’s a poor imitation of the original.

Now, what if I told you your God-given dreams face the same threat? The truth is, God has mighty plans for you. They are as specific as each of the five courses of that White House meal. God’s plans for you are wonderful and magnificent! When we first realize them, we rejoice as a hungry dinner gala guest. But when it comes time for us to pursue His dreams for our lives (which He places in our hearts), we feel we’ve been given a recipe card and nothing else. There’s no way we can create the feast ourselves! We balk at the thought. We stall under the obstacles (our grocery store doesn’t carry those exotic ingredients.) We become frozen by the setbacks (20-year-old cookware). We see a cook who doesn’t stand a chance (our own lack of training and skill).

It’s SCARY!

It’s certainly IMPOSSIBLE!

So, we then do one of two things: we try making cheap substitutions for the real dream along the way, or we give up on the dream entirely. Neither one is what God wants for us.

What He wants is to bring His dreams to fruition in your life! He does not want your obstacles to have the last say. He does not want you substituting. Or whining. Or giving up. What He wants is for you to take your inexperience, your lack of resources, your skeptical outlook, and give it all to Him. He is the Master Chef. HE has the experience. HE has the resources. HE has the ways and means. HE will accomplish His purpose for your life.

So, how do you embrace the impossible dream? You recognize that you are not the chef, after all. He is. You are His assistant. You are to listen for His voice in the kitchen and respond by doing what He asks. It’s your life, yes, but they are His dreams. Obstacles do not have the last say. You are to simply bring your insufficiencies and shortcomings to Him. Let Him slice, dice, and blend up the perfect concoctions … His dreams for your life.

He wants the feast of your dreams even more than you do. Together, the two of you will accomplish “the impossible!”

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

By: Kristin Beasley (Jodi Carlson)

Greater Reach: Inspiring Women In Jordan

Kristin is finishing up her Jordan trip along with her husband, Fred this week. Here's an update I received from Fred on Saturday...

"Yesterday we went to the baptism site and were surprised to see a crowd of 1000 + in attendance. It was very cool to be right on the Jordan in the site many say is where John baptised Jesus. It was obviously more of a significant event than Kristin or I realized as both Tony Blair of England and the Royal Prince of Jordan werre in attendance and spoke at the dedication. Thanks to Nabeeh, we were given VIP seats in the second row. Very good day, but it was a 7 hour event and we were very tired by the end.

Today Kristin headed off for Aqaba with AWT to do her two days of teaching. She called tonight and said the first two sessions went very well. A woman came up to her after she spoke and said: "This is a very important message and we need to hear it. Even though we are from the Christian church we live in a Muslim culture and community. Our town and our country are Muslim and our husbands are more Muslim than Christian."
The message of the incredible value these women have, created in the image of God and loved by Him is life giving and so needed for their soul care."

Praise God for His work in Jordan!
(Posted by Alyssa)

Caye's Lesson Learned

I spent 2 weeks last month helping a friend's dad roof their house on Manasota Key. It was hard work but I was grateful for it. It was probably the hardest money I have earned since college, and I was excited to deposit it in the bank. While I’ve been support raising, I’ve felt like I’m often living out of my car going from place to place. I made the mistake of putting my roofing cash in my glove box one night, so, I’d remember to deposit it. I arrived home from a long trip around 10 pm and forgot to take out the cash. Sometime that night my car was broken into and a few things stolen….one of them being most of my roofing money.

At first I was beating myself up, as most anyone would do. How could I make such a stupid mistake, especially at such a crucial time? I felt like a bad steward of an opportunity God had given me. Well, after the Officer finished fingerprinting my car I came back to the Lord to get my heart right. “Father, what would you have me learn from this? I feel like the cash represented very hard efforts on my part. It normally wouldn’t hurt so badly except it was back breaking work.” In that moment, I felt God saying….”That’s it. I wanted you to see how hard people work for the gifts they are giving you. I wanted to remind you never to take it for granted and to feel the sweat from their sacrifice.”

Somehow knowing that God was using it to teach me something very profound made the loss so much more endurable. It also helped me forgive myself and move on, knowing that He will continue to provide for all my needs.

I think I will always look back on this experience and remember how much people are giving to me. It’s so humbling. May God continue to remind you that He ultimately is the Biggest Giver of all. He has always given us more than we could ever offer Him. And He has always sacrificed more than us as well.

John 15:13,
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend" NIV

Written by Caye Siller

(visit her blog: CayeSiller.blogspot.com)