I want to encourage you today, as someone who is once again climbing back up to where my dream is. I want to inspire you as someone who has lost the fabric threads of her dream over and over again and yet is still willing to keep on threading.
I know it hurts to lose a dream that you might have spent hours on end building upon, or maybe even decades. I have BEEN there. It is HARD to watch all of our good work being torn down one brick at a time and then feel like we are left just sitting on the rubble.
In 2005 my life got kicked in the ribs when I found myself losing a long term marriage. It was a slow and agonizing process I endured. I went through a process of losing literally everything I worked hard to obtain and build, right at the moment I was beginning to really see the fruit of my labor. Just that one incident called divorce, all of my dreams came down crashing on my head. I remember staring out the window of my office overlooking the city, crying, and asking God why on earth this had to happen. Couldn’t I just be happy for once? This was by far not my first devastation.
It took me a LONG time to even truly want to rebuild again. I said I wanted it, but my heart and soul just were not in it. I cried for it, I yearned for it, and I missed all that surrounded it every single day of my life. My losses just kept on coming. Things left my life one after another until I was left with nothing but rubble. Yet, there is something amazing about hitting the bottom of the barrel. There is NO WHERE ELSE TO FALL! Anything from that point on was gain. In the process, I had to let go of so many things. I had to forgive the hurts caused by others, the misunderstanding of my situation, and the confusion of my position in life. For awhile I had to remind myself of who I really am because I had truly forgotten.
I want to tell you, it takes HARD work to come back up from the bottom. It takes getting past the hurt, the depression, the sadness, the physical illness it has caused, the emotional upheaval, and discouragement. It also takes listening very deeply to the voice of God alone because He knows the pain and He also knows the way out and back up!
I want to encourage you today if you have given up on your dream because it seems way too hurtful and hard to recapture it. You are not alone in what you are feeling and enduring! I want you to shift your understanding right now, if you will. Close your eyes and see yourself once again in the dream you have always had for your life. Experience once again what that feels like, looks like, and where it takes you. There is nothing trivial about what you want out of life. It is all very important! YOUR dream is held in the arms of God and He is waiting to help you climb right back up to where you want to be. He will also inspire you toward more!
In the Bible when people who were called by God felt like they could not do things alone, they called upon Him to send them a support person. This person became a buddy to the dream and was there to watch and help it unfold.
Today, I ask that God send to you a buddy to work along side you and help you recapture the dream you always wanted to achieve. It might seem trivial to you at the moment , but if you are longing for it, then it is NOT trivial! Let God shift your mindset to all things that support you. Step away from those things and people who do not believe in you or your dream. It is not cruel or selfish to accomplish a great desire. After all, the more you succeed the more you can lift others to do the same, right?
Dear God, I will see my dream as IMPORTANT because it is important to You. I will NOT give up, but will stand firm in the things I deeply desire. I will ask for, and accept a support person to bless me with encouragement and to cheer me on along the way. I WILL recover from the losses of yesterday and I WILL obtain my greatest desire. I know YOU desire to give me what my heart longs for. It is sealed now in heaven in Jesus’ name, amen!
Supporting your dream,
Pastor Jenine Marie Howry
800-421-1765
Life Lessons by Jenine Marie 