Having a dream is like holding a key which has the potential to unlock our future and fill our life with beauty, adventure, love and excitement. There's risk involved though in dreaming, in knowing when the right time is to use it that key and activate the vision. The last decade has taught me the importance of knowing how to wait for my dreams to come through to completion. The Beauty for Ashes Movement took 8 years of patiently waiting until I began to see the first shoots of life begin to spring forth. When you’re in the waiting room for something it can be hard not to go a little bit stir crazy or become overwhelmed with disappointment; you have to maintain hope and a vision of the promise.There’s a passage from the Bible that is at the heart and foundation of the BFAM and our mission to love women into wholeness, it can be found in Isaiah 61:3 where it reads:
‘…bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes…’
I love the whole of this chapter which is alive with God’s promises and vision for justice and restoration as it has caused me to come alive with those same things. Right before Isaiah 61, however, there is Isaiah 60 and the last verse reads:
‘…I am God.
At the right time I’ll make it happen.’
Essentially, one of the best-known Scriptures, that has helped start numerous movements around the world, is preceded with a reminder that God makes all things come together in their right time and right season. I say this after having walked through my own long season of waiting for my dreams to be fulfilled when many times it felt like I was just being given delay after delay. I definitely shed my fair share of tears, questioned every truth and promise and felt disappointment pierce my heart on several occasions but then things changed and suddenly, with great ease, the dreams of my heart started to become a reality.I’ve learnt that the time I spent waiting was actually a time that God was continuing to build the vision within me and mature my heart to be able to contain it. It wasn’t years wasted but rather years invested.We all have visions, dreams, passions that stir our hearts and cause us to come alive. They are promise seeds to be planted in good soil and benefited with the time and care which will allow them to grow and burst forth. Your dreams will come to pass even if your current circumstances deem them impossible right now. The intricacies of your life journey do not spell out ‘mistake’ or ‘failure’ they display beauty, strength and someone who is wholeheartedly going after their individual purpose and destiny no matter the obstacles they may face.Some dreams occur overnight and others marinate for years before you even see a hint of their existence but, either way, there is always a ‘suddenly’! So I dare you to keep dreaming, purposing, hoping and believing because it will come to pass in its perfect time.
