Human Nature...we fear, we dream, we live.

...to me people, humans, are incredibly fascinating and mysterious.

fas*ci*nat*ing // extremely interesting

mys*te*ri*ious // difficult or impossible to understand, explain or identify // having an atmosphere of strangeness or secrecy.

So many different lives...stories...experiences...and NO TWO are exactly the same. Literally each and every person is influencing the world in some way or another, whether good or bad...we ALL have influence.

Life is a war. Conflicts are spiritual. This war can be fought either with fear or faith. It's a choice, and not necessarily an easy one. Realistically life is full of fighting FROM both.

FEAR...

...we fear the unknown

...we fear change

...we fear what we do not understand

...we fear failure

It's EASY to list fear.

Where is our faith?

Isn't it hard to have faith? It can be. Faith and trust often go hand in hand...

We don't trust people because we've been hurt. We don't trust God because we blame Him for all of our pain. We don't trust ourselves because we know we tend to only screw things up.

(This is a shameless plug about how we need to learn how to EXTEND AND RECEIVE God's grace.)

I've heard it said so many times and it's SO incredibly true... "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?"

You couldn't fail your parents. Yourself. Your friends. Your boss. Your children. Your spouse.

What are your dreams?

Why do we fear pursuing our dreams if we truly believe that God is a dream giver?

That dream is there for a REASON. It WILL be fought. Especially if your dream is becoming a person of influence in any way.

Here's a few simple examples of my dreams:

My whole life I dreamed of singing and leading people into worshiping God. I never thought it would happen and certainly was never one to want the spotlight. In God's timing He did exactly that, under my husband's leadership. I am by no means the world's greatest singer, but I know that my heart is in the right place. I desire to be used WITH (not behind or in front of) my husband to help people have a true encounter with God through music. Pouring out all of our love and devotion to our Savior...through every missed note, messed up lyrics or timing... we've learned how to push through these awkward moments pretty well. :)

When I got married some of my dreams stayed the same, some of my dreams shifted, new dreams were birthed, and some dreams were fulfilled.

I also used to dream of being an Elementary teacher and an architect...those 2 specific dreams fell away over time, but the SAME desire to teach is still in me and is used often...

...and I promise you I have zero interest in being an architect (math was never my thing), but I love being able to see God in all of the unique ways He empowers the human brain to have the ability to design...I find Him in the creative photography of architecture and the way people can portray a city/building/flower/person, etc to look. So no that childhood "dream" was not fulfilled in the sense that I didn't become an architect, but I am 23 and already own my 3rd beautiful home with my husband (And our little buddy Charlie of course). We absolutely love making this house a home together through renovations and decorating. It has brought us even closer together and in my opinion we are similar to being architects through our creativity. ;)

I have some dreams that are just not ready to be shared yet because God is working on me and them. Guaranteed you'll see a testimony blog about them someday because I believe they're in my heart for a reason.

Through every moment in life we can be pursuing or living our dreams. Don't be fearful of what God has put on your heart. Do it for HIS glory and you CANNOT fail.