Take a step back in time and consider the dreams you had as a child. Most children can quickly tell you what they want to be when they grow up. Are those dreams simply childhood musings or seeds God plants in our hearts? What happened to those dreams? For many women, those dreams got lost in the reality of life. We take a job we don’t want because we need the money. We set aside our dreams for those of our children. Or we pursue something we think we want, only to find it didn’t answer the longing in our hearts.
When I was young I wanted to be a teacher. My father was a high school biology teacher and I loved helping him at night grading multiple-choice tests, entering figures into his grade book and hearing him talk about his class projects over dinner. As a young girl, I loved being in school. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I volunteered in my elementary school library to re-shelve books. I admired and loved my teachers, and worked hard to earn their respect.
Time passed and somewhere along the line I lost my dream to teach. It’s possible that my Dad’s growing frustration with the school administration and difficult students subconsciously soured my opinion, or more likely, my own fascination with a businesswoman’s lifestyle took over. When it was time to declare a major, I chose public relations. I knew I loved to write and I could just see myself carrying a briefcase, heels clicking down the hall on my way to an important business lunch. After graduation, I launched wholeheartedly into my career, never once asking God if that was His will for my life. For years my career and my faith were on parallel planes.
As the years wore on, that dream to teach got buried as life took different turns and twists. But God never forgot it. Although I didn’t pursue teaching as a career, God always brought teaching into my life with kids of all ages at church. However, it wasn’t until I surrendered my plans for my career and started working from home that God revealed His plan to integrate my faith and career, and fulfill my dream to teach as an editor, speaker and writer. My dream just didn’t look like I thought it would when I was a child.
As Christians, we understand that everything we do, whether cleaning our homes, driving a carpool or running a home-based business is offered as a service to God. Paul encouraged the slaves of his day with these timeless words in Colossians 3:23 and 24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
What childhood dream have you lost? Whatever it is, I guarantee you, God hasn’t forgotten it. He may not fulfill it in the way you expect, but perhaps it will be even better as you surrender your plans, and offer them to God for His use.
In His Love,
Glynnis