What about my dream?

"I dream and go on dreaming for I must; a man without a dream is dead already; he has given up the race of life; he has not yet reached the peak and has stopped pursuing it. Turned to able down the hill again and leave this life unfulfilled, a man of emptiness, settling for small things, that don't really satisfy! He leaves no mark on this world, oh God, don't let me be that man! Though I may slip and fall, help me to keep on climbing, and though each brow reveals another, and another and the peak is yet beyond may I keep pursuing, as a man possessed, possessed by God. Moved by vision, stirred by passion, invincible within. May no cliff face defect me, no rock fall deter me, no difficulty hold me back, and may I never, never head down that hill again and let life's goal delude me! Oh my God, be my Beacon, my Companion, my Guide and Helper, my Strength and Life. May I climb in the footsteps on the One who climbed the Golgotha's hill, who set His face like a flint, with resolution of steel, who turned not back but turned that hill into the greatest hill of history, achieving there the greatest victory this world has ever known..." (From the prayer of dreams yet unfulfilled)

This is for you out there, who are waiting for your dream and have been waiting perhaps for years. This is for you out there who maybe had a dream at some point but buried it because waiting for it simply hurts to much.
I might not be the most authorised person to write about dreams yet unfulfilled, but I'll do it anyway, because I see so many souls around me who just give up or are about to. I see passion everyday, because I am married with a musician. You should see his eyes when he talks about music or alternatively when you try to take music away from him for even one day:-) I don't know what my husband would be without music, but I am pretty sure he would be less complete. I have people so dear to my heart who are waiting for years to see their dream come true and they still talk about it as if it will happen tomorrow. Regardless whether they feel it everyday or not, they refuse to give up on their dream. These people are my teachers on matters of passion and dreams yet unfulfilled.

Dreams are fragile, they seem to come out of nowhere, just spring up inside us and then they refuse to die. What do you do with such a dream? I read once that "a dream from God will carry you when you can't carry it anymore" and I asked myself- what's a dream from God? How do I know a dream is from God? I guess the answer lies in how much is that dream a part of you, where do you begin and the dream ends? How easy is it to kill it? Can you kill it? What price are you ready to pay for it?

God gave Joseph a dream (Genesis 37). He never confirmed that dream to Joseph in words. He certainly didn't have a prophet laying hands on him confirming his dream "Thus says the Lord..." Not long after God gave him the dream Joseph was in the pit, in darkness with a muddy wall in from of his nose. He was just a teenager. Probably all that went through that boys mind was: "What about my dream?" He was hearing his brothers plotting: "Shall we kill him, shall we sell him?" He could hear the coins being counted, the slave traders getting ready to pull him out and carry him away. Everything went from bad to worse. "What about my dream? God, what about my dream?" Nowhere in all of Joseph's story does it say "and Joseph lost heart" or "Joseph lost his hope". Everywhere he ended up, Joseph would eventually be in charge, because Joseph refused to give up. Joseph reigned in his life and everyone around him saw it. When he reached his dream, it wasn't his position that gave him the status and the authority. Joseph learnt all that while overcoming situations. I know this might sound harsh, but perhaps Joseph's dream was even more impossible than yours is. What were the odds of a slave becoming the prime minister of Egypt in those times? Stop for a second and put yourself in his situation and his world. If you think you're having a bad day, can you imagine a bad day in the life of the slave Joseph. He must've had countless days when everything shouted at him: "Give up, Joseph! Stop being stupid. It will never happen. Where is your God now, Joseph? Just lay there and die." But Joseph got stubborn. Perhaps it didn't start for Joseph as "I'm going to be the prime minister of Egypt one day". He just knew something was different about himself. Perhaps later the dream that kept Joseph going was "One day...one day, I'll see my father and my country again." Whatever that dream was and whatever it became, God gave a teenage boy a dream, and the dream carried Joseph when Joseph couldn't carry the dream anymore.

Maybe you can put your dream in words and describe it in detail, or maybe it is just this longing in your heart and the only way you know it's your dream is because every time you hear about something related to it, your heart starts to beat faster and you fell so full of passion. Whatever your dream is or will become, don't give up on it. Don't bury it somewhere hoping it will go away and take the pain with it when it goes. I am convinced the only way you can know for sure it will never happen, is if you give up!

"Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.” (Isaiah 49:23b)

May your dreams come true.

Emanuela