It’s dreaming season for me. By that, I don’t just mean I’m having more dreams while I sleep, but rather that the dreams stored up in my heart are beginning to be birthed. It is an exciting, bewildering, and terrifying season all at once. Holding dreams in your heart is safe, because you can suppress them when they aren’t convenient. You can visit them when you need a little breathing space and inspiration. You can push pause when reality invades and you have to turn your focus to the immediate concerns which present themselves. It’s less messy to hold dreams in the womb of your heart than to actually allow them to come through the birth canal.

But “God is a dreamer,’ I recently read in a book called Dreaming with God, by Bill Johnson. “And He is looking for people who will dream His dreams with Him.” I know this is true because, long before I picked up the book, God was inviting me to dream with Him. He has wonderful dreams! And He is not stingy with them! He has given His creation the ability to create, and He doesn’t mind if we color outside of the lines! In all honesty, dreaming with God is a lot of fun…an adventure unparalleled in my life on this earth so far.

The scary part about dreaming, though, is that it is expensive. Once a dream has entered the birthing process, it’s hard to stop it from living. There are new demands on your time, attention, and resources. There are risks to be taken, which cannot be taken back. There are adjustments to be made in your life and family, in order to make room for the life which the dream has brought with it. It’s all wonderful, but costly. Priorities must be reevaluated and shift accordingly, while still maintaining an order that glorifies God and allows us to stay healthy and well-balanced. That goal is hard enough without adding new dreams to the equation!

Nevertheless, here I am, preparing to see vision birthed. In this holy, awesome process, I have become aware of something all at once beautiful and terrible. Often, in our struggle to reach our dreams, we sacrifice other dreams, dreams that were also born in the heart of God. Dreams like our marriage. Our family. Our children. Our health and well-being. Our other God-given assignments. We forget, when a new project is screaming for our time and attention, that these dreams once began the same way, and are still living, breathing realities which need no less of our presence and focus.

So how do we do this dreaming thing, without letting the other dreams we are carrying die? I’m not exactly sure yet, but I’ve been gracefully reminded that, when God is the One Who breathes my dreams to life, He is also the One Who holds the power to help me keep the others thriving, as well. He doesn’t give new dreams so that the old can pass away. He doesn’t trade one for the other. As He gives new dreams, He also stretches our capacity to carry them, and provides the grace to rearrange the space in our lives in order to make room for all that He has entrusted to us.

Dear Woman of Breakthrough, don’t be afraid to dream with God! Dreams are the offspring of our relationship with the Creator. We have been given unlimited access to the mysteries of God, mysteries which have the capacity to bring Heaven to earth, and to show men the amazing goodness of the God Who created us and longs for all to know Him. In our dreaming, we possess the ability to release answers, hope, and life to a dying world.

Remember that the same God Who gave you the creativity and the invitation to dream with Him, is the God Who will bring your dreams to birth. He has invested Himself in the desires which He has given you the capacity to hold. And as you allow your heart the room to imagine possibilities that will change the world around you and influence people to know the goodness of God, He is partnering with you in that endeavor! Don’t be surprised when your dreams begin to take shape and unfold into realities you didn’t know that you would see!

Most importantly, don’t forget that all the dreams of God’s heart begin and end with His children. All He is and all He does exists to love that which He has created and called into relationship with Himself. In the process of dreaming, and giving birth to dreams, never forget that family is at the very center of the heart of God. To sacrifice that dream in pursuit of another will never be a part of the Kingdom order. God will make room for the dreams He is a part of, and your family will be richer because of it.

When God prospers dreams, He prospers families, not just individuals. This will help us to discern between the dreams born of the flesh and those born of the Spirit. God will always call us and enable us to carry our families close in the pursuit of the dreams He brings to birth. In the heart of God, children and family are foremost – never forgotten and never compromised.

May we have the courage to dream today, believing God is excited about our dreams, and trusting that He will help us to make room for that which He has given us the ability to dream for. It may not be a seamless, quick, or easy process, but it is certainly one that’s well worth every ounce of investment we’ll make! Dreaming opens us, and our families, to believe the incredible generosity and greatness of the God we serve. And the world needs to see that side of Him, lest they be left with only a shadow of the reality of His creative glory.

In John 17:22-23, Jesus says that He has given us His glory, the same glory which God gave to Him, so that we can be one with Him and He can live fully in us. When He is given permission to live fully in us, we can’t help but dream with Him. When we dream with Him, our dreams bring Heavenly revelations to earth, for people to see how amazing He truly is. And when that happens, it isn’t just the world that’s meant to taste and see how good He is…it’s our own homes, our own families, and our own hearts that ultimately savor the perfection of that perfect fruit!

May your heart be inclined toward His today, and may you begin to imagine the amazing possibilities of a life spent dreaming with God!

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