YOU MAY SAY I'M A DREAMER

Woah there... two blogs in one week. I know, getting a bit ahead of myself.  The reason for this 'super blogging' is not because I have any 'news' or events or specific prayer requests.  It is because I feel compelled by the spirit to share whats on my heart with those who are interested, and for the most part, I imagine you to be interested if you are reading my blog!

Since being in Goa, I have felt the Holy Spirit speak to me about the need for deeper relationships, for relationships that go into realms of love without condition, just as our Father in Heaven loves us. I felt like I was looking up to a huge mountain of a task.  I have known people for years and yet this depth of relationship had not been entered, and here I was standing in a place where I knew only a few people, the rest were new, the rest did not even know my name or age. 

God spoke to me about sharing my heart, and my story with people, in order to connect with them.  There is something so peaceful and profound in sharing something of your soul.  It allows the person you are with to see into your heart, and to feel a connection with you that creates a safe environment where they can make themselves vulnerable in sharing part of their heart.  We live in world that has forgotten how to share, we demand so much of each other; time, affection, work, respect, understanding, patience, kindness, but give nothing of ourselves.  And if we do give something of ourselves, we get conditional and bitter when favours and affections are not returned.  Jesus told us to,

 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."  (Ephesians 4:2)

He also tells us that love, itself, is not self-seeking.  In other words we have lost the essence of what it is to love, to share to be with one another building a relationship built on the true joy and unconditional beauty of love.  A relationship cannot grow if you do not share along the way, can you imagine your friendships now, how shallow they would be if you did not share? But in these friendships and relationships, I challenge you to look into them and see how much you have come to 'expect' of the other person, and whether you truly know their struggles and joys at this time.  I'm not saying that my relationships are perfect and often I fall short of the call on my life to love unconditionally.  What I'm saying is that in order to really grow in our relationships we must cast aside the expectations and give gracefully, sharing, not so that someone else might open theirs, and we sit at the table with an equal portion of each others hearts, but so that we can make a way for God to move between each heart, healing, strengthening and using the openess to make a way for His love to enter into that relationship.

So I have been sharing with the young people and those that I meet, what is in my heart, my struggles and joys, my concerns and my dreams. It was in those moments that I knew Jesus was sitting with us, stirring in our hearts, and allowing us to cross paths and share stories. The kind of moment that you feel absorbed into so deeply that the world could be crumbling around you, but all you know is the warmth of these hearts as they open up and overflow with Christ's unfathomable love.

In this process I have seen that my dreams are not big enough, and that they have in the last year been crushed by many people on the way telling me I am not good enough, I don't have what it takes, and that my dreams are way to big for my abilities.  When I see the greatness of God in the world and lives around me, I see a God who imagined the whole universe into being, a God who creates completely new life forms every day! I see a God who made the birds to fly and the fish to swim and who made the tree's to bear fruit without striving.  My God is not a God with small dreams, and I was made in His image, I need to start dreaming BIG DREAMS.  Dreams that are fuelled by God's love and righteousness, not by my own flesh. If I do that, my dreams will inevitably be small, the best I imagine will be of worldly standards, with boundaries and barriers.  I want to dream God dreams, and fix my eyes each day on these dreams so that I can live pursuing the things God has planned for me. 

I set my joys before me, and strive through any challenges knowing the greatness of what is to come, just as Christ did,

"And let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2 TNIV)

I stand now, not looking at a mountain that has a summit that is out of reach and far beyond my capabilities, but a mountain that has a most beautiful journey, with wonderful opportunities to seize and embrace along the way.  We see nothing at the destination that we have not seen along the journey, we simply see it standing in a place where we can soak in the atmosphere and reflect on what we have come through. I want to look down and see a magnificent view, and know the bigger picture more beautifully because I walked along each part of the path taking in its glory and intimate details.  To know what has made the view so beautiful.

My Dad (who is for the record one of the main reasons I have come to understand the importance of sharing ones heart) has always told me, that 'we have friends we don't even know yet, how blessed are we?'
I pray that you would pour out your hearts and share with those you love, that it would open your eyes so you can see Jesus with you as you walk, just as His disciples did on the road to Emmaus.

Every blessing,
Soph x