Dream dreams

I have had beautiful moments with God this week. Last week we were talking about what we could do as a church. I mentioned how lately I have had it on my heart to walk the streets of Eugene like I used to do when I volunteered at Outreach, Inc. in Indy (outreachindiana.org). I experience more of Jesus and the church when I am among people.

A year ago I was telling a friend what would happen if people that followed Jesus started to dream dreams that are bigger then them? That of course only led to more questions. Would the world change? Would our hearts start to transform more into who God wanted us to be? Would we start to see the Church as an everyday thing rather then a one day of the week thing? Can we stop and take God out of our box that we created for Him? Those questions still challenge me today and only lead me to more and more questions...

I daily drive by people that are on street corners holding up signs saying "need help" or "any spare change?" and my heart breaks. And when my heart breaks I start to pray. And those prayers aren't always the normal prayers and usually happen in the privateness of my own heart. My mood challenges the prayers for sometimes I pray with anger and other times I pray prayers of deep compassion for my neighbors on the street.

I want to share something with you about what God has placed on my heart and how sometimes I feel insignificant to do it. I really feel like I need to be walking the streets. Then I thought well I could bring some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with me. And all of this has stemmed from seeing the signs on the street with my neighbors and friends holding the signs. I shared this with the team and they thought it was a good idea. And I was surprised by how God has already gone before me in this. Sarah said we should bring socks! It's a dream I have...to see people not holding signs on the side of the street. And it's something that God has poured into my heart. Reread the first sentence of this paragraph. I used the word insignificant. I find that word stops me from being used by God and my dreams from becoming a reality. So I fight that and am willing to risk whatever it takes to follow the dreams God places on my heart.

I share all of this to you to not tell you how awesome and mighty I am, because that would be a lie. Reread how I called myself insignificant. But Jesus uses us like he used his disciples. They were ordinary people like you and me and learned how to dream dreams that were bigger then them. It took time, a lot of risks, and faith. They messed up, picked themselves up again, and were continually following what was on their hearts.

I pray you will dream dreams that are bigger then you and see just what Jesus can do in this world.

Much love,
Stacie :)

Edit: One of the best things about living in community is seeing one of your dreams become the dreams of others. It's neat to see God going before us in everything that we do.