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Write down those dreams. The house. The finances. The lifestyle
It seems so self-indulgent. Like making some kind of cosmic wish list and then expecting God to fulfill it. But at the same time, sometimes long term dreams and goals can weigh heavy on the mind. We are just at the beginning of a long road to becoming debt free. It can be very discouraging to realize that many of your goals and dreams are going to be deferred for years, perhaps nearly a decade. But when we write down our dreams and put them away for a while, we can take them off of our minds and put them into God’s hands.
I love what Jamie did in this chapter. There was a certain kind of house in a certain kind of location that they wanted, but moving was not urgent. She found the multi-lists and realtor websites overwhelming. She wrote it down, and probably would have forgotten about it until God fulfilled her every dream regarding their home, right down to the color. (Please read the chapter for more details, it really is a cool story).
This is not to say that we can just name what we want and God will give it to us, like an omnipotent waiter, but rather that when we give our dreams and desires to God he will answer us in ways we never could have expected. By writing it down, it allows us to look back and better see the goodness of God.
So I’m going to try to do this. Last year my husband and I already talked about what we were looking for in a dream house, mostly because we hate moving. It’s a hassle. We like to settle in and get comfortable. So we don’t want to move unless it will be to a place that has everything or nearly everything we want. This includes more living space, not just more bedrooms. We have no objection to fewer bedrooms if they are large enough for kids to share. After years of city living, we’re wearying of parking troubles and would love a place with off-street parking, whether driveway or garage (preferably both).
We want to be able to live as debt free as possible, though I may be willing to compromise on having a mortgage as long as it doesn’t eat up too much of our monthly cash flow. We also want to be able to have a more spontaneous lifestyle. This doesn’t mean that we won’t budget, but that we’ll be able to have room in the budget for spontaneity. Surprise the kids with a Friday night out at their favorite burger restaurant. Last minute family trip to the beach. Ability to visit family up north without saving all year for it. Room to buy each other gifts and surprises on occasion. To be able to give more than we currently do to causes we support. We already have a line item in our budget for charitable giving, but we both feel strongly that should God bless us with an improvement to our financial situation, it would also be because there are others we are called to bless.
Your list of goals may be different from mine. There is so much more to mine than you see here. That’s OK. Yes, we still work toward our goals on a daily basis. But since it is such a slow journey, sometimes it’s easier to put the big ideas and dreams to paper and put them away for a while and wait to see how God will work in the future.
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