Dreams are meant to be walked out!  But how?  You might ask.  My answer to you is One step at a time…

I heard the joke, how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time!

Dreams for many of us are like elephants, way too big to fit anywhere in our lives.  Our dreams are usually too big to swallow, too big to hide and shove down and way too big to fulfill on our own.   Isn’t it amazing, though, that they fit perfectly in our imagination and heart.  You can see them in everything you do and they are more real to you than anything else that you know. You desire it more than anything else, but still it seems elusive.  The most unhappy people I’ve met are those who have  decided that their dreams were  just too big and too crazy and so they just gave up on ever fulfilling them.

You know that I found that my craziest dreams, meaning dreams that were as huge as elephants and dreams that seemed to be delusional and impossible were the very dreams that the Lord himself had birthed into my life.  These are the dreams that I know I can’t fulfill on my own.  These are dreams that I know that are not possible unless God  makes provision, sets me up with divine appointments and connections and provides funds for me to do it.  But I have great news for you!  The pictures that I posted with this blog represent one such impossible dream!  I will not go into all of the details about God’s miraculous provision, or how he made divine appointments for me.  You know what I am talking about people want to call it “being at the right place at the right time” or “meeting the right person.” I know when I have holy encounters that were set up divinely.  It wasn’t fate, it was my Heavenly Father providing for me so that I can fulfill my dreams which give him glory and points to his goodness…

Being an author is one such dream that I thought was so huge and impossible for me to obtain, but here I sit with a second book just published with many more finished and ready to go.   I simply took bite at a time and now I have got a good part of an elephant dream swallowed as far as actually writing and getting published.  Going on the adventure of where the books will take me is another elephant and so on and so on, but one bite at a time, one step at a time  with the Lord’s hand leading me, I’m swallowing hard and making great strides!

Until We act on what we know, our knowledge is nothing more than a theory. Real learning comes through doing.~B.Johnson~

This blog is written in dedication of my sweet Aunt Margie Eidson, my best friend and my spiritual Momma.  Margie  went on to be with the Lord in December 2010.  She lived out loud and passionately as she pursued Jesus and taught me how to do the same! 

In my last blog I wrote about “The great grace exchange.”  The exchange was trading my inability for his grace so that I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me, however I also wanted to write about balance.   In the Kingdom of GOD there is always balance.  unfortunately more times than not we tend to go from one extreme to the other.  I feel this is one reason that the world  some times looks at a Christian in such a dim light.  We have to have grace to fulfill our destiny no doubt about it, however unless we move out or act upon what the Lord is telling us and showing us in his word,  we will never get anywhere! His grace is not given for us to sit and wait for something to happen in our lives, but it is the power that we need to step out and cause something to happen!

I was so blessed  in my life to have had spiritual Momma’s. These were  Godly women who just spent time with me and taught me about the things of God, especially about using faith! Faith is a verb, not a noun.  If you know anything about English, nouns are person, places or things, where as, verbs are action words.  Faith implies action, we act upon the word of GOD!  Faith without works or “action” is dead… 

One time my sweet Aunt Margie, who was my spiritual Momma, and I were sitting at my kitchen table.  She came over every morning and we would pray.  In this time she taught me so much. I was a baby Christian and was  really struggling to get free from a habit of smoking cigarettes.  (Please, if you smoke cigarettes this is in no way a judgment of you, this was just a habit that I personally wanted to be free from.)   Morning after morning I would ask her to agree with me in prayer that “the Lord would just take the desire for this thing away from me.”  Finally one morning, just like a Momma would do,  she looked me right in the eyes and told me that she was not going to pray over my habit anymore! You could imagine that I was shocked, but she said “Honey, when are you gonna act like God’s word is true to you?  Faith without works is  dead! You have to act like GOD’s word to you  is true and trust him!  You act and you will find out that He has already answered your hearts cry.  He has already delivered you from that thing when Jesus died.  He’s not gonna crawl back up on that cross because of your little habit, NO, He’s already done what you’re asking him to do for you!”

As I sat there just digesting all Aunt Margie had boldly said to me, I then literally stood up from the table ,walked over and took my new carton of cigarettes off of the top of my refrigerator.  I opened each pack and placed the cigarettes into the kitchen sink.  I then ran water over them to assure that they were destroyed.   I simply acted upon the truth of GOD’s word.  You have to realize that at that time I was smoking around three packs of cigarettes a day.  They consumed my life in that I always had to have them with me and allow myself time to smoke them no matter what!  They had become little gods to me that controlled how I lived in a sense.    Anyway, as I poured water over the cigarettes and made this horrible mess of my sink, everything in me was crying out “you big dummy, you just ruined a whole carton of cigarettes!”  I didn’t feel delivered!  Hello?  Your feelings and your faith are usually in opposition with each other, However I knew something was different in me.

It took about three whole weeks for me to obtain complete deliverance over that habit in my life, hey I smoked for thirty years, I thought that three weeks was pretty great! I would tease my Aunt and tell her that in those three weeks out of my life that I literally could not stand the sight of her, because every time I would desire a cigarette, I could see her face that morning and hear her say to me “Honey, faith without works is dead!”  I believe this is one of the number one keys to faith.  We must be held accountable to someone. I feel like this is why the power of agreement is indeed so powerful, because it holds us accountable to one another.

I love the quote from Bill Johnson above, because until we truly put GOD’s word to the test in our lives they are just beautiful words written on paper.  But to have to words come alive, we must act upon them.  Take the word of GOD literally to you.  The word is a will and testament written and you are its beneficiary.  A will only goes into effect after death.  Well Jesus not only died so that we could receive all that was his, he than rose again to sit beside our Father and pray that we indeed receive it all.  If you need something, I would encourage you to go to the “will” which is the word of GOD and know that He left everything to you.  All is available to you, will you act like it is true today!  “Honey, Faith without works is dead!”

Today I am trading my efforts for His Grace!  Much easier said than done of course.  God’s grace is not just unmerited favor which I need and desire in my life, but it is also His ability on my inability to accomplish what he has called me to do.  His word says that I can do all things through Christ Jesus which strengthens me.  How do I get His strength on my weaknesses so that I can accomplish all things? Yesterday my pastor called it ” The great grace exchange! ”  Which in one word, simply means surrendering.

Sometimes just mentioning the word ” surrender” brings with it all kinds of resistance.  “But what about my rights?”  “Or don’t I get a say so?”  Surrendering to the Lord does not mean I give up my freedoms or choices.  As a matter of fact Jesus came so that I would have freedom, but he does not force anything on me.  Accepting Jesus in my life was a choice.  Because I chose him,  my eyes were opened to a new ryhmn of possibility and  choices that I never even knew existed.   He died to give me choice.  In the scriptures the Lord says I can choose life or choose death.  Being a Christian is all about choice and surrender.   I can choose to live with his grace in and on my life or not.  When I find myself struggling to be a Christian all the time or striving to get anything accomplished  then obviously something is not right.   It is like a spiritual alarm clock that is telling me to wake up.  I  probably need to see if I’ve done a grace exchange in that particular area.  Have I surrendered that particular area of my life to him, so that I can obtain His grace.

Salvation through Jesus came as a work of grace in my life.  I did not obtain salvation through my own efforts or by my works it was a free gift.  So in saying all of that, what makes me think that If I obtained salvation through faith and grace, that I can now go on to live out a Christian life without that same kind of grace?  Paul addresses the Galatians and asked them point blankly “Who has bewitched you?”  He let them know that what they began in the spirit they could not now do in their own efforts.  I need this reminder often, because when I am struggling or striving, it is usually because I am trying to do it on my own works instead of  by His grace.

One thing I have discovered about the Lord, is that He delights in giving me His grace. He is not withholding anything from me.   He desires for me to be all He has created me to be and wants me to fulfill all of His plans for me.  The scripture says that it gives Him great pleasure to give the kingdom to His children.  If you are reading this blog today , I hope you can sense His presence and His grace.  Maybe if you’ve been struggling and striving this blog will be a simple reminder or a gentle alarm clock that awakes you to “the great grace exchange!”

I wanted to share my Secret Garden painting with you.  In the Song of Solomon the Lord tells us to arise my beloved  and come away with him for the spring rains have come and the winter has passed.     I often picture him and I walking through a garden that is peaceful and beautiful.   He also says that those who will pray in secret he will reward openly.  So I feel it is important to have a place, a secret place that is all yours to where you can go and be with the Lord.  Sometimes it’s just a place to escape and collect your thoughts, but I have found when I can get quiet then creative ideas, thoughts and even answers to prayer will come.

I have a wonderful big front porch and I live in the country so it is not hard for me to escape.  When the weather is nasty though, I have created a little nook area in my bedroom that has this painting on the wall.  It is actually sort of set up to be my office, so after I put the children to bed, I escape into my little Secret Garden.  I have found it to be so wonderful.  I wanted to especially encourage Mom’s today.  Being a Mom myself, I know that  you need a quiet place to escape to.  I have a friend who took her walk-in closet and made her a secret place. Maybe you do not have that luxury, but  Many women like to light candles and relax in the bath, where ever you choose to go, I encourage you to go often.  Let the Lord refresh you!