For Frustrated Dreamers

Have you ever felt like more people needed to hear your voice? Ever felt like you were underrated and underappreciated when you know deep inside of you that you have something valuable to offer to the world?

This message is for all of the frustrated dreamers. YOUR TIME WILL COME!

Did you know that Joseph had his initial dream when he was 17 years old? He did not see the complete manifestation of his dream until he was 30 years old. For 13 years, he was a slave and a prisoner but he was still a dreamer!

We never read it in Genesis, but I refuse to believe that Joseph never got frustrated along his journey. None of this was shown to him in his dream. He didn’t see himself being sold into slavery or being put into prison, but it was all part of the plan. He held on to the dream and ultimately, he saw it manifest.

The lesson is simple. No matter what is going on in your life, you have to keep the dream alive inside of you. Your dream is not based on things AROUND you….it’s based on what God put IN you! Your dream has nothing to do with where you are right now. It's greater than what you see!

You may have to wait and you might get discouraged, but keep the dream alive. We are a generation of people who do not like to wait. Because of technology, we have everything readily accessible to us at any given time. This has trained us to be impatient and expect instant gratification. The paradoxical complexity of this mindset is that everything is not going to come when we want it to. Our culture has changed, but God has never changed. We must be patient because patience is part of our refining process. God still requires patience (longsuffering) of us.

What you must realize is that you are on a journey. Everything that you do is being graded by the dream giver, who is God, our Creator. God is watching you. He is grading you on excellence, timeliness, attitude and how you treat others.

I know you think “it” should have happened for you by now. Your business should be off the ground by now. Your book should be a NY Times Best Seller by now. Your music should have been nominated for a Grammy, Stellar or Dove award by now. Your church should be bigger by now. Your ministry should be in more demand than what it is right now. Your product sales should be greater than what they are right now.

I know how you feel; but don’t give up! Oftentimes, the moment when we feel like giving up the most is when our greatest breakthrough is on the horizon. If you give up now, all of the time you’ve spent waiting has been wasted and the dream will be lost.

Dreams really do come true; but not overnight! Be afraid of overnight success. It is quickly lost. When you get to where you really want to be, you will appreciate the struggle it has taken you to get there. There is no success without process!

You might feel frustrated, but don’t give up. Anyone who has ever accomplished anything has had moments of frustration. But they can tell you, you WILL reap; if you faint not! Your dream is not a figment of your imagination. It is a promise given to you by God. “Faithful is he who has promised”. 

Be encouraged, even in your frustration. He knows the way that you take! You’ve been on the sidelines cheering everyone else on for so long, but get ready! Your time will come!

2014: "The Year of the Dream"

"Stuck"

As a psychotherapist, pastoral counselor and a minister, it is amazing to me how many people I encounter weekly who are still living in their past. They are in their present, they want a better future; but they are still holding on to their past and cannot let it go. There are many people walking around physically free, but mentally bound. I call it being “stuck”.

“Remember Lot’s wife.” –Luke 17:32

There is a reason that Jesus admonished us in the New Testament to “Remember Lot’s wife.” Lot’s wife had a better and brighter future ahead of her. God even sent her and her family angelic assistance to get free from the past. Lot’s wife was leaving Sodom, but her mind was still there. She still had memories. What happened to her? She got STUCK! The Bible declares that she turned into a pillar of salt. Whenever you are trying to move forward, your mind must move forward as well. If your mind doesn’t move forward, you will be stuck.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” –Proverbs 23:7

The funny thing about your mind is that wherever your mind is, that’s where you are. Think about this. If you are driving and your mind is not on the road in front of you, you will soon begin to stray off the path that you are on and ultimately wreck. In the same way, our life follows our thoughts. If you are bound in any area of your life, check your mindset. We are what we think and we are where we think.

Getting Free: Forgiving Others

Letting go and resolving the past involves two important elements. Those elements are forgiving others and forgiving yourself. We’ve all heard this at least one time before: “Forgiving is not something you do for the other person, it’s something you do for yourself.”  It’s a cliché, but it’s a true one.

Think about all the people you’ve held on to in your heart and mind and have not forgiven. They probably haven’t thought a second thought about you in months, even years. They’ve moved on and are probably enjoying their lives while you’re still holding on to what they did and what they said. Many of us are holding on to people who have moved on and are no longer apart of our lives. Holding on to fresh grudges and relentless unforgiveness gives you the feeling that you are getting revenge or that you are holding someone captive in prison when in actuality, you are the one who’s bound and the other person free!

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” –Philipians 3:13 (KJV)

You hear it all the time, and you may have even said it yourself a few times: “I can forgive, but I will never forget.” And that’s fine. We are human. We have memories. However, the important thing is to not dwell on those memories. If you continue to rehearse what happened, you will always be dealing with the emotions of what happened. It’s time to “get over it”.

“How do I know if I’m not over something?”, you may ask. If you talk about it and still get emotional about it, then you’re not over it. Forgiveness is about releasing yourself of all of the emotions attached to a past event. Emotions such as fear, rage, anger, guilt, doubt and so on are all attached to negative events in our past.

If you think about an event or a person and you relive all of the emotions, it’s still fresh and you’re not over it. Forgiving is about letting go. When you forgive others, you release yourself from the bondage of your past. You also free your heart and your mind to live in the now and be happy!

You can’t live in those emotions anymore and expect to move forward. The apostle Paul chose to forget things that were behind him [his past] and to reach for what was in front of him [his future]. You can’t get to your future holding on to your past. You have to make a decision. Either you’re going to hold to the past or you’re going to press toward your future. It’s impossible to do both at the same time!

“But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” –Matthew 6:15 (NIV)

Let me also add that forgiveness is not about whether you feel like a person deserves to be forgiven. That’s not a call for you to make. Forgiving others is not only a requirement for living a happy and fulfilled life, it is also a mandate from God. He said if we don’t forgive others, He won’t forgive us. We have all been wronged at some point in our lives, but think about the people you have wronged as well. Selah.

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” –Luke 23:34a (KJV)

Jesus did no wrong, but He was still able to forgive. Why? Because He understood the power of forgiveness. Jesus could not be free to walk in His future [savior of the world] if he did not quickly cross the hurdle of forgiveness. He gives us the reasoning behind forgiving others by simply stating, “For they know not what they do”.

Forgiving Yourself

This is the final piece of the puzzle. You cannot forgive others if you cannot first forgive yourself. It was not your fault! And maybe it was your fault; but what can you do about it now? The past is the past and if you continue to live in the past, that’s where your life will remain. You can’t change the past. All you have is right now and your future.

Stop holding yourself hostage. We all have regrets. We all have our “I should have”, “I could have” and “If I had it do all over again”. Today is a day to release yourself from all of those negative emotions. While you’re forgiving others, be sure to forgive yourself as well.  Refuse to live another day holding on to the guilt of your past.

How long will you beat yourself up over what happened? We all deal with life’s problems. We must come to a place where we understand that there are some things that are beyond our control. You cannot let those things that you could not control make you feel guilty or fearful. Don’t be so hard on yourself!

If you think in the past, you will always remain in the past. You don’t have time to get stuck! What are you holding on to that’s stopping your life from moving ahead? Think about it; Talk it out, cry it out and then decide that you will no longer be “stuck”.

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Order your copy of "Dream Again: The Journey Toward Destiny" by Joshua P. Smith in paperback or Kindle format here: http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Again-Journey-Toward-Destiny/dp/1475259328