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I Think I Can

It’s such an interesting question to ask children what they want to be when they grow up. Our soon-to-be nine year-old recently told us he wanted to either be a skateboarder or an engineer like Dad. Dad delicately informed him that skateboarding isn’t a degree option, but that it’d be a super cool hobby. We’ll check back and see where that leads over the next decade. Our daughter is passionate about animals, and has been since she was a little girl. At four years old she had the opportunity to climb up and throw her little bitty legs over a big ole’ horse and experience the grandeur of such a ride. It sparked a little light. That light grew into a burning desire to one day have her own horse to ride off with.

Although we live out on acreage, I never pictured us having a massive animal like a horse. But isn’t it something how the dreams of our children become our dreams, and how we’ll work together in pursuing them? It took some time, but the sweetest horse recently became part of The Meadows Family. Gray Boy is a dream come true, for Brooklyn certainly, but also for her family, who dreamed along with her even when it seemed so far from reality.

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Isn’t that what dreams are made of?

A dream isn’t something we know we can do. It’s something we think we can do, just enough to try.

I remember when I was a little girl standing at the fence line in our backyard singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow to the cows as they grazed on the grass and looked at me with perplexity. I never imagined then that when I got to be a little older I’d hold a real microphone and have a real audience of people listening.

Looking back to my high school biology class when my friend Mandy and I dissected a mink, it never crossed my mind that one day the Lord would call me to be a nurse and there’d be a plethora of science classes to follow. Every student has subjects more challenging than others; math and science were mine, but when God sparks a dream within us, we just need to believe it’s possible- and try.

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For someone with an A-type personality, I like to know the plan, that is, if I’m not the one making the plan. And the God who made me, knows me from the inside out. So He leads me to places I’ve never known. It’s a relationship of trust. I don’t know exactly where the road is leading, I don’t know what I’ll see along the way, I don’t know what I’m going to feel through the traveling, but I know He is with me, guiding and directing my path, so I go, even though He doesn’t reveal the entire plan, I go where He leads.

Ninety-nine posts ago, the Lord led me to start here with a laptop and a blank Word document. He used my friend, Rhonda to nudge me to try. I never imagined this blog would grow to one hundred posts, over a thousand supporters, more than forty thousand views, read in parts of the world I didn’t know existed, and take us to Massachusetts. The Lord has used this blog to lead me to places I’ve never known. Those places are only known from listening to His voice, following His leading and believing all things are possible.

There are times we don’t know the possibilities of what we set out to do. We effortlessly develop lists of reasons why we shouldn’t even try, most of the time, because we’re consumed with comparison, but that’s another blog post. Remember, there is no one like you, and only you can accomplish the purposes God has for your life. He may have placed a dream in your heart that your mind can’t contain, but that’s okay. All you have to do is just think you can, and try.

We’re still working things out here at The Meadows. We don’t have this horse thing down, but there are others who do, and God has brought them into our path. We’re still asking what everyone wants to be when they grow up; it changes like the Oklahoma weather, but it’s always seamlessly full of wonder. I’ve now got writing a book on my radar, not because I think I’m so fabulous at writing, but because God put it in my heart, so I’m going to do it, because--- I Think I Can.

Bless you for traveling this journey with me. 8141c0b5d80f1fdabdbd445db0ffc48d

Pursue Him and those dreams He’s speaking into you.

Jeremiah 33:3 NIV Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

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Loose Gravel

Fences. Excavators. Dirt work. It’s a common scene in our small community. It’s a scene of construction. A new elementary school is being built on our main street. There is also construction at the school’s band room and field house. Even our church is undergoing renovation, with remodeling to our foyer and sanctuary. Flexibility and patience are essential in this season dealing with the by-products of projects, the traffic congestion, the disruption to routine, the displacement of gatherings. Throw predictability to the curb. This is a season of change. With change comes growth. So bring on those bulldozers, pull out those sledgehammers, let’s revel the opportunity!

That’s easier to say when we see physical buildings going up. It’s more exciting when the evidence is right before our eyes. Not so much enthusiasm when it’s intangible growth in construction.

Wait. What?

You’re with me. You know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s the drive home. You’re on smooth surfaces. Cruising along down the predictable road before you. You’re in total control of that wheel. You’ve got security steering the vehicle exactly where you want it to go. And before you know it, you hit loose gravel. IMG_2107

What is completely unexpected catches us and produces instantaneous emotion. Fear. Vulnerability. Insecurity. Doubt. Confusion.

And that is what many of us experience in our flesh when God is calling us out of the familiar and into the unknown. We want things to make sense. We long to measure sensibility. We desire to weigh out the practical. However, sometimes our steps of obedience are scary, or seem foolish, because we don’t know the plan, because we’re not in control.

When God starts a project, sometimes we’re going to have some inconveniences. Our routine may be a little disrupted. We may seem a bit displaced. There may be some detours and traffic jams. We might even hit loose gravel. Put patience, faith and flexibility to practice.  We were never in control of this to begin with. And making improvements sometimes start with making a big mess first.

Remember, we’ve got one amazing Foreman on the site. He’s coordinating each and every detail.

And when life hits loose gravel, relinquish control; He has the wheel.

Habakkuk 3:19 (NLT) The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

Isaiah 33:6 (NLT) In that day he will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord will be your treasure.

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