Full Quiver Ministries

By Annie Tynan

I heard this phrase so clearly, about 6 weeks ago. Did I wake up the next morning and find myself in completely different circumstances? Nope! But what followed that phrase was the Lord telling me to start to dream. I actually had the ability to dream stripped away from me many years ago and it has been a journey for me to get to the place where I am now. I feel like I’m pretty good at dreaming, but I’m learning that there’s always more.

There are so many people that are told to “quit dreaming”. Even children at school – “stop daydreaming and pay attention” is heard so often. When we are told to quit dreaming, I believe that it damages our imagination in ways that would surprise us. I have had so many conversations with people in the past few months that truly struggle in this area. Well, we need to learn to dream again.

God placed dreams in us for a reason. He didn’t do that so that we would just ignore them. He placed dreams in our heart, so that we would discover them, cultivate them and watch them grow. He wants us to do what we can to make those dreams come true and when we do our part, He loves to step in and add His touch, watching those dreams come to life. 

But if you’ve had the ability to dream stripped away from you, how do you even start to dream again? For me, it was a simple exercise. Someone challenged me to sit down with pen and paper, or my laptop, whichever works best. Then write out A Day Without Impossibilities. Just write out what you want your “perfect” day to look like. Start with when you wake up in the morning. Where do you want to wake up? What’s the first thing that you want to do when you get out of bed? 

When you begin to think about what you would like to do, it opens up something in your heart and mind. You begin to think about things that you thought would be impossible. That’s the point. Think about details. The smallest details are fun to imagine! Make your day look like no one else’s. If you love to cook, you may want to make your own breakfast. If you don’t like to cook, you may want your own private chef. Maybe you want to wake up in your hometown or maybe you want to wake up in a city that you’ve always dreamed of visiting. Another thing is to think of who you’re spending your day with. Don’t assume anything is a given. Write everything out – no detail is too small! 

Another challenge that I was given was to make a dream list. 100 things that I dream about. Now, I’ll be honest, a list of 100 can be pretty tough to come up with. For me, I love to travel. So, I didn’t just put travel as one of the items. I listed a number of locations, each with their own number. It made it a whole lot easier to get to 100. You may sit in front of your list and feel like you’re staring at it forever, and not able to come up with anything. Or you might get stuck at 10…or 20. That’s OK. Just get started. Put down what you can, and then add to it as you think of things. This isn’t about mastering the art of dreaming, it is about moving forward from where you are.  

It’s kind of like setting goals – you’ll never know when you reach your goal, if you don’t know where you’re headed. When you have a list of dreams and you’re able to start marking them off, it motivates you to add more to the list. And as you add more, you’ll find yourself naturally dreaming bigger and bigger. That’s exactly what He is wanting you to do! 

So get out that laptop (or paper) and get started! Don’t let your dreams sit on the shelf. The Lord wants you to dream with Him. It’s an amazing adventure and this process will unlock something within you that has wanted to get out for so long. Let it out and have fun!