Friday, October 15, 2010

Of Dreams and Heart's Desires (Part I)

Did you ever have a longing or a desire that refuses to go away even after many years have come and passed? I guess many of us do dream big when we were much younger, when we were not battered by life's realities and storms. Sometimes we are afraid to dream because we want to be practical. Sometimes we thought those dreams we had were just wishful thinking and could never come to pass. Or for some people, they were not even taught to dream because no one has ever planted seeds of greatness in their hearts.

I was one of such people. Though I loved God a lot, I wasn't really in touch of the dreams and desires that the Creator of the Universe had put inside of me. Simply put, the dreams were latent. But God is good. He intervened in such a way that He had to pull us out from our old church environment and put us into this church to teach us to dream. Joel 8:28 records the Lord saying that your young men shall dream dreams, your old men shall see visions.  You may find it weird that we even needed to be taught to dream but sadly, this is true of many believers.  God placed my hubby and I in an environment where we dare to dream big dreams. A place where we can trust God for more. In His grace, He has surrounded us with people from whom we can learn, people who will encourage us to believe His word. And so, a journey of lifetime dreaming began for me and my household.

I liked to journal my spiritual journey with my Abba Father. I believe these journals will prove to be of great value to many people, especially my dear sisters in Christ. In 2008, as I was reading my journals, I realised that even before stepping into New Creation Church (NCC), God was already preparing to lead us out of my old church. In Aug 08, God was telling me about Isaiah 55:12 (You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace), Romans 12:2 (renewing of our minds) and Psalm 113:9 (The Lord makes the barren woman a happy mother of children at home). In Oct 2008, when God showed me Isaiah 54:2 (enlarge your tents, stretch out your tent curtains), He was actually enlarging my vision and teaching me to expect more good things from Him. At that point, God had put a desire for me to stay home as a happy mother of children. Hence I already knew then that my stay in my current company is only temporal although I didn't know when God will bring me out.  That dream didn't go away for the past 2.5 years. I knew I could do more at home than at work. I knew I was called to raise champion kids and to bring up my children in the way of the Lord. Even when I got so tired (sometimes to the point of desperation) of waiting for God to bring me into my next season, God was still faithfully working behind the scenes to bring me out of this company.

What God did was to continue to enlarge our vision by putting us in an atmosphere of faith in NCC. We were taught to dream big under Pastor Prince's grace-based teachings. Little did I know that God was not just preparing for me to stay home, He was providing all the finances for me to stay home in style. That answered prayer came in the form of additional rental income from our HDB flat as we prepared to move into our condo which we just bought. That was God's masterpiece on the home front.

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