new year's dreams

Naturally, this season is a time to review the past and a time to celebrate the beauty of newness. What an incredible opportunity! Over the last year I have contemplated my own dreams, which has led me on a wonderful journey of self-discovery and given me a feeling that I am empowered to create a beautiful life—joyful, vibrant, and purposeful—the type of life I want to live! I believe God plants within each of us special abilities or gifts to help us lift one another and to live joyfully. A while back I read something that got me thinking:

“God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. He can’t if you don’t pray, and He can’t if you don’t dream. In short, He can’t if you don’t believe.” Jeffrey R. Holland

What an incredible insight—that God will help us in this! Dreams help motivate us to become more. And as we pray, move forward in faith, and seek His guidance, God will help us to reach our dreams and expand and elevate our vision of life. It fills us with purpose and passion.

Define your dreams. Over the last year, I have asked myself these questions. You may ask yourself different questions that help you along your own journey of self-discovery.

What are my dreams?
What are my gifts? (because God, our Creator has endowed each of us with special gifts).
What talents would I like to develop? (incredibly enough, we can develop ourselves beautifully in new ways!)
What do I want my home to feel like?
What opportunities do I want to provide for my children?
What kind of person do I want to become?
What life do I want to live?
Who do I want to become?
What things are important for me and to me?
Most importantly: what has God planted in my heart to do and become?

Defining dreams (which is an on-going process) helps us build a roadmap. A roadmap helps us make choices that move us towards our dreams. And this dreaming process helps us develop vision.

Over this Christmas break, my husband and I took a couple of days to discuss our family vision. It was so much fun! While we haven’t “arrived” on everything (really, I feel we are barely embarking upon things that will require an entire lifetime to build and become), it is exciting to define those dreams within our relationship. Together, we can help to elevate each other’s vision on a discouraging day (because we all experience those). Most importantly, as we listen carefully to the things we feel God prompting us to do, we can move forward in the direction of our dreams with faith and confidence.

Wishing you a wonderful, dream-filled year! xo