As we wind up the year, it always strikes me that incredible opportunities are ahead! Not that we should wait until the beginning of a new calendar year to pursue our dreams and goals, but rather the rush and busyness of the year has often slowed enough to consider what is next.
The other day, I took a few minutes and just prayed and pondered what lay ahead. What will 2025 hold? What goals should I pursue? Where will our adventures take us? It is said that we are headed towards a golden age and I want to be sure to make the most of it!
Wildest Dreams
What are some of your wildest dreams? Not practical or logical, but big and bold? Share those with God, ask Him what He would have you do with them. Perhaps this is the year they begin to take shape!
I’ve heard it said that sometimes life is full of questions while other times it is full of answers. Maybe you’ve been in a waiting season and your answers are just around the corner! Not that we won’t always have questions, but some seasons feel fuller of them than others.
It is said that when we dream incredibly bold and audacious dreams that it gives us a chance to really see God at work! If we are inline with what He has for us, then we can expect Him to show up in amazing ways to accomplish what only He can accomplish!
Just think about it – Christ took a few loaves and a few fish and fed thousands of people and even had leftovers! Not at all realistic or logical! So why do we try to keep our dreams inside brackets that might fit into our reality? Incredible opportunities are ahead – will we be bold and ambitious enough to get to experience God-size dreams come to pass?!
God’s Promises
In Scripture, God promised different people different things. He gave them missions and duties. Why would that end? Do you think perhaps if we leaned in and listened a bit better perhaps He also is guiding us just as He has guided His people throughout all time?
How do we learn to listen for God and determine His call on our lives? We have to spend time in His Word and in prayer with Him. Get to know Him better and lean into the nudges He gives. I can’t help but think when we are faithful to obey in the tiny things, the inclinations that seem to be from within – not fleshly, but deeper – than He will make His promptings more and more obvious. After all, when we are faithful in the little things, He will give us bigger opportunities to be faithful in larger things.
Keep in mind, that God speaks to us individually. He’s not going to tell your sister/best friend what He tells you. In the same way, He’s not going to tell you what He is impressing on your best friend. So encourage one another to cling to the hope, the inclination, the vision that He has given each of you individually. As the saying goes, God doesn’t typically speak to us through conference calls – letting everyone in on what He told you.
But these individual messages that He gives each of us can be our opportunity to really test our faith! Do we believe that God can deliver on something we can’t see happening in our limited human understanding? Guess what? God doesn’t need our human logic to accomplish His plans. He simply needs our faith, our willingness to believe – really believe – that He can accomplish far more than we can hope or imagine. And that in itself is an incredible realization!
Incredible Opportunities Are Ahead
When we finally begin to wrap our minds around the deepness of this reality – that God can accomplish so much more than we can think or even imagine, it opens opportunities that are beyond our largest dreams! Truly incredible opportunities are ahead when we cease trying to fit God into our human box! Not that we mean to in the least, just we feel compelled to put limits on every little thing to make our dreams a bit more realistic.
It is vital to realize that these expectations, these hopes and dreams, must be God-honoring and bring glory to His name. Becoming a zillionaire “just because” isn’t an appropriate hope or dream. But rather, seeking to understand why He has you where He has you, what lies ahead, and what opportunities might be available to you to serve Him and represent Him even better.
When we are faithful right where He has us, I believe that leads us to what’s next! Pray and ask Him where He is leading. Ask Him about what is on your heart. Listen to what He impresses on you and lean into it. Ask Him to fuel your hope to help you better understand where He is taking you.
Incredible opportunities are ahead!
Until Next Time!
Hope.
PS. Keep reading: https://www.theamericanlady.com/2018/04/04/get-your-hopes-up/