Dare to Rest

"In me all things are possible

In me all things are made new

All things made perfect in my hands...

So rest your soul "

https://youtu.be/yO_YQt6zhSc

Ever dreamed of something, worked towards it tirelessly, imagined life as if the dream were the reality, but eventually given up on it? I think most of us have. We all have a deep place in our souls where we dream of what we could be. Our dreams for ourselves were often God's dreams for us, before he gave them to us to dream. I haven't often met someone whose childhood dreams bear no relation to who they are.

We often give up on these dreams because 'life gets in the way'. We think that what we're busy all day doing has nothing to do with what we dream about in our 'off time'.

What if all the things that we think have got in the way of these dreams are actually part of the preparation for the fulfilment of God's purposes for us? For me, my childhood and adolescent dreams are still buried deep in my heart, and for the longest time I thought they were foolish, unenlightened and immature.

Recently, God has challenged me in a very raw and deep way, not to scoff at and disregard the things he put in my heart. Just because I was a child, or a young person, with less life experience doesn't mean those dreams were wrong, they were simply seen through the eyes of a child, they were innocent and uncorrupted.

Sometimes the dreams of our youth are too big for us and we need to mature in order to handle them. Yet in the wait, we push for shortcuts, tainting good dreams with worldly desires and ambition, rather than waiting for God's perfect hand and timing to bring them forth.

Recently, God has begun to restore the things I thought he had spoken to me throughout my childhood. Yet these dreams have been shot down so many times that I'd given up on them completely. The word for the season of my life is "I am making all things new. I am making OLD things new". Sometimes we forget that the word "all" includes old things, meaning things we left on the back of the highest shelf, where dust is allowed to settle and build up. For me, these are things that I abandoned and shoved in a box and sealed the lid on tight. Right now, God is gently taking those boxes out from the back of the closet, dusting them down, and taking out those dreams, and showing me that now is the time I might be ready to handle them.

I love this journey because I had reached the point of giving up on so many dreams, that there's no doubt that if any of them do happen, I know it's purely and only because He decided it was time.  

Not only does God restore the dreams he gave, he suddenly opens our eyes to see the purpose of the things we have walked through, which at the time had seemed such a painful or pointless waste of time. At the right time we can see that these experiences actually make us more able to achieve God's dreams for us in a way that points to Him so much more than if we had accomplished things alone, and in our own strength.

My favourite thing about this journey of restoration is that I don't need to fret, worry, or force anything through. We all have the potential to strive after our dreams, and to push hard to make them happen. It is important for us to work hard and work faithfully, yet there are also times when we reach walls that simply cannot be broken through in our own strength.

God wants us to be so absolutely convinced about his hand at work, that he brings walls down in ways that are seemingly impossible. He created the Universe. All things are possible. My story at this point is an accumulation of seemingly impossible events colliding into one massive blessing, which points towards the dreams of my childhood, realised in his perfect way and in his perfect time. 

There was no way I could have manufactured any of the circumstances I find myself in, even with all the striving and pushing and hard work in the world. They are simply Him. His work. His hand. Making all things perfect.

And the best thing about this?

Rest.

My soul can breathe. He's got this. His hand is on it all. It's not hard for him. I can breathe, exhale, find His joy in the moments, and Rest.

That is heaven, on earth.