I was running. We live on a street where the neighbor on my left is a mile away and the other is blocked by trees and a swamp. It is one mile from my house to the stop sign and I run to it and back twice for a total of four miles. I don't run alone anymore, but when I did, I would often spend the process thinking, talking aloud to the Lord - or even singing to Him. This time I was thinking about moving near some water.
My husband, Scott, is a water baby. He grew up on James Island with a dock in his backyard and there are several pictures of the Wand boys leaping off into the waves in their cut offs. He had been praying that the Lord would miraculously put a lake on our property and I was thinking about him. I wanted him to have that lake. I had recently seen some property on the web near our home on eighty acres. We couldn't afford it, but I was thinking about it anyway. It was then I heard the still, small voice....."What is YOUR dream? If you could live anywhere, where would it be?" I stopped in the middle of the road; startled by the question. Wow. I suddenly remembered. I would live in Montana.
I had been a teenager looking at a calendar. The pictures had beautiful landscape photographs of selected American states. It was then I saw the picture. It was labeled, "Big Sky Country". I stared at it for a long time. It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. Snow capped mountains in the distance, white, humongous, cumulus clouds covered the bright, blue sky. Sparkling water rippled over pebbles in a winding stream. I gasped at the beauty and wished I could live there.
I started running again. I wasn't a teenager anymore. I was 43 and had five kids and no money. "Lord, would You do that for me? Would you be willing to take me to Montana?" I began to think of other dreams I had shelved. I started to think about my dream house.
Later that night I sat at the computer and looked at properties in Montana. Scott sat by my side. I had forgotten that I had told him about this dream. He surprised me when he said, "Well, we've always wanted to live there." "We?" I was thrilled and moved that it had become "our" dream. We ahhhhed and ooohed over the gorgeous properties and my heart began to ache. Soon, I was looking at house plans. I found my favorite and I've memorized it.
The other night I was looking at chandeliers on the Internet. My girls were huddled next to me. We love to look at beautiful things. There is a large rotunda where the staircase sweeps up in my dream house. It needs a large chandelier and I wanted to see some. I was taken aback at the beautiful works of art - art that distributes light in the most spectacular ways. Some dripped with crystal, some were very modern, and some flowed like waterfalls from the ceiling. I saw black crystal chandeliers for the first time and others with Spanish names. Some were sold in dollars and others in unfamiliar currency.
As I had devotional time with my children the following morning, I found myself flipping to the Book of Revelation in the first chapter where Jesus walks through the seven lampstands. The lampstands, we are told in chapter one, verse twenty, are the seven churches. It was only the night before, during our weekly family Bible study that we read in First Peter that as individuals - we too, are churches - spiritual houses (I Peter 2:5). I realized that I was not the only one who wanted a dream house. The Lord wants one too. He is trying to turn ME into one. I need lots of renovating, but He is determined to finish me. He and I have different ideas about what His dream house should look like. I'm thinking I need to be some type of palace with chandeliers; but I'm beginning to learn that the first humbling renovation is for me to be satisfied with simply being one little candle in His majestic masterpiece. He has been hammering away at my vanity and it has been painful. I haven't decided yet if He wants me to be willing to give up my personal dreams to better serve Him or if He wants me to have the faith that those dreams are all a part of His plan and it is time to believe that He is not only able - but WILLING to make them come true.
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