When God Breathes New Life

I sat on my couch last Thursday night, swimming in a pool of my insecurities. Austin was out of town and I was alone with my laptop open knowing I should have been in bed.

I sat there thinking about how wonderfully things had been going for a lot of my friends. New things were happening and steps were being taken towards dreams. Life for them meant something. It was alive for them.

I, on the other hand, sat in a shell of who I used to be. I used to have dreams and hopes. I used to work towards those things, but now I sat thinking about how I had let go of those things. I let life tell me that I had been foolish to think that with God anything was possible.

So I wrote God an email. Yes, an email. I was too lazy to write another journal entry by hand so I wrote an email to myself that was addressed to God. I complained, and pouted, and whined and then I apologized. After I was done ranting, I simply pleaded, "Lord, a life without a hope, without a dream, is dead one. Oh Father, please help me. Please give me a hope. Place Your Dream in my heart. Breathe new life into me." I took a deep breath, and hit send.

After a few seconds I was prompted to go to a blog I go to often. There were no new posts, but I remember the author suggesting a couple of her friends' blogs the day before. I clicked on the one whose title stood out to me....chatting at the sky. As I read I felt The Lord breathe hope, desire, thirst, hunger, and dreams back into me. My cheeks felt rosy again, my eyes regained their sparkle, and my heart began to dance! The Lord confirmed what my crazy heart had been whispering for a while now. A dream that seems so silly when I say it aloud. But He clearly whispered back, "Yes Melissa, this is the dream that I have placed in your heart...and with Me, nothing is impossible." He called me to write.

these photos were taken on Tybee Island one October sunrise. i basically forced my sister to come ride an hour out with me at the crack of dawn....but man was it worth it. it felt as if The Lord was literally breathing refreshment into our souls. (forgive the quality...they were taken on my phone)

My dear friend, what does your heart whisper to you? What dream do you keep locked up like a secret that you are ashamed to share? Could it be that God has placed that dream in your heart? Perhaps He placed it there not so much for the sake of the dream, but for the sake of your faith. He is using it as a spiritual weight, and as you lift it your faith gets stronger and stronger, but don't get too comfortable...He tends to add weight from time to time to keep us growing.

Don't be afraid of your calling. Don't let the sheer impossibility of it all and the fear of what people may think cause you to shrink back. Because after all, The Lord is your Helper...what can mere people do to you?

So close your eyes, lift up a prayer, and allow it to flood in...the new life, the new hope, the new dream that God is breathing your way.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. -Proverbs 13:12

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. - Isaiah 43:19

"...Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." -Joshua 1:7-9