What Does Your Dream Look Like?

Book and coffee. Perfect.

If you are a book lover like so many people, you understand how exciting it can be to get to the next chapter and find out what is happening. It's really hard to put the book down (especially true if you read an actual book with pages and covers instead of an e-reader). We even know a few people who start a book and can not even bear to close it and get some much-needed sleep. They must get to the end and see what happens no matter what!

Once we are single-again women (divorced, widowed, or single moms) and have struggled through as much hurt, pain, worry and sorrow we can stand of our particular angst, we then reach a point where we simply know life is not going to stand still for us. It keeps going and going. Turning and turning just like the pages of the book we can not put down. 

We must get to the next best chapter of our lives and see what happens! Hopefully, we discover that living our lives each day to the fullest is the only answer just like the heroine in the book. She realizes she is the only one who knows where she is going and what she will do when she gets there! 

What Does Your Dream Look Like?
Yes, we all have a dream. If you don't think so, grab a notebook and write down one sentence of what you'd really like to do with your life today. Date it if you want but keep it simple. Now, think of yesterday. Write another sentence of something you've always wanted to do. Next, think of the day before, last weekend, the week before that, and so on and so on. Write down "dreamy" thoughts of what you've always wanted to do in your life. 

Choosing the right path

Remember that idea you had last year? Maybe you thought it would be impossible for you to accomplish but you keep thinking about it. These are things you have wanted very much to do for a very long time. Writing these down will eventually take you to the answer. And you'll know what you know. 

Guess what? You are now in a position to actually do those things! There is no one to stop you. No one to discourage you from starting. And it's never too late to start! On an episode of America's Got Talent this week, we saw a couple dancing their hearts out. Amazing moves: jumps, spins, twists, twirls! He was in his 30s and she was beautiful, lean, energetic and...ready for it...in her 70s! They won the Golden Buzzer sending them to the finals. It is never too late.     

The Only Hurdle 
There is one thing that will block your way. And that is. . .y-o-u! Just try it. You have nothing to lose. It will make you feel warm inside just like the ending of that book. 

The best part of this whole idea is that we each have the Creator of the entire Universe on our side! In fact, He is the One who gave us the dream in the first place from the moment we were born. Can you imagine that? Do you remember what you used to dream about doing or becoming when you were a child, a teen, a young adult? That dream or vision came directly from God Himself because He loves you. He's just wondering when you might get started. Is it today?

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them" (Romans 8:28 NLT).
    

Where is Your Story Going?

Tunneling Through Life

We nervously approached our court day, and then the judge loudly banged his gavel and announced we could begin our lives over. It was both heart-wrenching and heart-relieving all at once. Even though we never intended for a breakup to happen, our relationship, in fact, ended after much confusion, frustration, and pain. The prolonged tenseness was released, like coming out of a dark tunnel.  

The darkness we endured during the last days (or years) of our marriage may have lingered longer than we would have liked, but the light ahead was surely dawning. In December 2016, “the world’s longest and deepest [train] traffic tunnel” was opened to passengers in Switzerland. Running through the Alps for a total of 94.349 miles and traveling at a speed of 155 miles per hour, the Gotthard Base Tunnel must be a scary ride! The light at the end was most likely much welcomed. We can understand how this would feel. We have experienced our own scary “tunnel.”

Once we reached our destination as a single-again woman, the light was almost blinding. We had to “blink” several times to readjust. We just were not expecting our future to suddenly be so stark. It caused feelings many of us were never contemplating. So what did we do? We naturally panicked, quite understandable in such a situation. But we knew we weren’t the only ones who experienced this phenomenon.

Hurdles in Our Way

After getting over our initial response, knowing how to handle life was another difficulty. And this is where the problem began of sabotaging ourselves and our future. Of course, we didn’t just sit down and say, “Today I think I will block anything good that might happen to me.” No, we wanted the opposite. So what happened?

Consciously or subconsciously, we sometimes stand in our own way to avoid something great that could happen in our lives. We are afraid to face the potential good. If we stop to think about it, could we identify some of these hurdles:

• Skipped out on a job interview for no good reason
• Made repeated excuses for not joining a new hobby group
• Gave no attention to studying for a college entrance exam
• Avoided cleaning out the clutter in the house

All of these kinds of acts damage our intentions of moving ahead with our lives. They do us no good at all. They only stall us from finding meaning and purpose. Once we decide we deserve to have a great life--which we most certainly do--we can start to build momentum in that direction. We won’t any longer sit back and wonder, “How in the world does that woman get so many opportunities?” “How does she do it?” The answer is she doesn’t impair her chances. She doesn’t hold back when she wants something good. She chooses to jump over the hurdle instead of letting it hold her back.    

We all have a story. Have you ever seen a movie or read a fiction story where the creator gave the reader options for an ending? You got to choose how it would go to your own liking. Our story is the same. We have the ability to change the outcome as it best fits our own situation. Your story will not be the same as the woman next to you. Nor should it be. We each have numerous choices to create a life that will make a difference to ourselves and, more importantly, to affect others in an encouraging and positive way. What ending will you choose?

The One Who Knows You

God also has a creation story just about you. It sums up just how important you are to Him:

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” Psalm 139:14-16 NLT.