Dream Dashers

It has been quite some time since my last post. As of lately, I'm still busy working on completing my bachelor's degree in English Literature. In less than three months I will finally graduate at the age of 40! Go me! Back to my post about Dreams. This time I want to talk about dream dashers. Have you ever had people tell you that your hopes and dreams are ridiculous and to just forget about them? Those people are dream dashers. I've experienced quite a few throughout my life. Now if your dreams involve doing something immoral or illegal, that's another story. Maybe some of my hopes and dreams seem ridiculous and may also seem impossible, but with God ALL things are possible (Matthew 19:26 and Luke 18:27). In spite of just turning 40 and not having had a date in over a decade, I am still believing God for a husband and a family of my own. Lately, some well-meaning people tell me, "You know you can always adopt." Turning that magic 4-0 does NOT mean the death of my indoor plumbing. I still want to have the chance to be a biological mother and I refuse to do artificial insemination. I want my future child to have a father, not a sperm donor. So lately, I have found that there are people who will discourage me from believing in what may seem impossible. Even though there are times when I feel beyond frustrated and just want to give up all hope on this matter, I am pushing myself to keep standing on God's Promises for me. If other people do not want to believe or stand in prayer with me, I will just distance myself from them because I do not need any more negativity in my life. If I was praying for a particular man to be my husband but he is still married to someone else, then that is immorally wrong. If I was praying for my husband to look like a movie star and be a millionaire, that would be a selfish prayer. So back to dream dashers.... There's a friend of mine (who remains anonymous) who had once told me that she could not pray a specific prayer request I had. Several years ago at a women's bible study, we each wrote our prayer request on a piece of paper which we put into a basket. At the end of the service, each woman picked a piece of paper from the basket and that was who we were to pray for that entire week. One week I felt led (I hoped this was truly from God) to write my request about my hope for a husband and family before my child-bearing years ended. I was almost 36 at the time and maybe in a bit of a panic. Well, this friend got my paper and informed me she could not pray that for me because she said, "Maybe this is not God's will for you." Although I knew she was not mean-spirited about it and simply wanted to pray for God's will for me, I felt hurt. Other people throughout my life have stood in prayer for me on this matter and even though this desire of mine may seem ridiculous to some people, it is not immoral or illegal so why not pray for that? We pray for healing for people who are battling terminal cancer. Imagine if my friend told me she could not pray for God to heal me from Stage 4 cancer because that might not be His will. Now doesn't that sound cruel? Though our prayers may not get answered the way we hope they do, I believe we should pray for healing and God's other promises over our friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else we know. One of my other dreams is to publish more books and in a time when people are reading less and turning to electronic devices for reading, I admit I am starting to feel a bit discouraged about writing. However, I am NOT going to let that stop me because I know God put that dream in my heart. So when I get more books out, I will also give my readers the option of Kindle format as I also read on a Kindle. My point of this post is to remind myself and hopefully encourage my readers that you cannot let what people say or allow difficult circumstances to keep you from pursuing your dreams. Yes, there are many dreams that do not get fulfilled easily and within a certain time frame, but God is the God of making what seems impossible to possible. So dream big even though you cannot outdream what God has in store for you!