“When we stop dreaming, we start dying.”

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2006-11-14) from his book, Soul Cravings: An Exploration of the Human Spirit (p. 82). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

I have had a dream to live in California for over 30 years. I did everything I could to make it happen but it didn’t happen until this past year. I look in my wallet at my driver’s license and look at the plates on both our cars and realize that I am now living in California and so does my son and his family.

Now they have moved here from Colorado for him to go to law school and they have dreamed to live in the little town of South Pasadena. They have great schools for their girls, it is close to the train for Brett to take to his law school in downtown LA and it is such a great place to raise their family. It was their dream but up until last Sunday it didn’t looked like it was going to happen. Well today they are putting their security deposit down on their new apartment in South Pasadena. Their dream has come true.

As I was thinking about it last night, the thought came to me that God wants to give us our dreams because He gave them to us but also He wants us to do all we can to get them before He gives them to us. His dream drives us to get them.

What dream have you given up on because you didn’t want to do the work to get it? To God getting the dream isn’t the reward but the process is. He wants us to work hard at getting it then He works the miracle.

It is awesome what God has done in Brett and Marissa’s life through great work and determination. And He wants to do the same through you. Don’t give up on the dream that God has placed within you. Keep striving, keep driving, keep preparing and keep believing. It may be just around the corner so stick it out.

Over in Acts in the New Testament the Apostle Paul was having a difficult time in his God-dream in the City of Corinth and in chapter 18 starting in verse 8 it says in the Message Bible that “The Master spoke to Paul in a dream: ‘Keep it up, and don’t let anyone intimidate or silence you. No matter what happens I’m with you and no one is going to be able to hurt you. You have no idea how many people I have on my side in this city.’ And that was all he [Paul] needed to stick it out.” He had a dream that God had placed in his heart but he had to stick it out in order for it to happen.

Maybe that is what you needed to hear today.

So are you going to stick it out or are you going to just stop dreaming?

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