Monday, October 10, 2011

A Girl Can Dream; A Girl Can Be Redeemed

I guess part of growing up is seeing people for who they really are.  Sometimes not too pleasant.  Sometimes pleasantly surprised.  But we are all in the same boat.  Righteousness as filthy rags before the Lord.  Yikes.  But we are new creations and crucified with Christ never the less we live.  Abraham giving up Isaac as Pastor Schaller said in the message on Sunday.  Giving up Isaac but getting him back.  Giving up our lives but getting them back.  The mystery of a life lived for God.  We all fail but going forward.  So, the growing up thing.  Growing up in Christ can be seeing people in his/her flesh or even ourselves but having the love of Christ for that person even if it’s really ugly.  I guess that’s growing up in the Lord.  More of Christ less of me.  My prayer.  How could we love others who have failed/failed us or better yet HOW COULD WE LOVE OURSELVES AND ALL OF OUR FAILURES OUTSIDE OF GOD’S ECONOMY?  Loved, loved, loved the messages on Sunday.  Hearing the Word of God and faith increasing.  The life I pray for.  The life I want.

A girl can be redeemed.  A girl who hasn’t been out sinned by anyone (Beth Moore’s quote but I’ll take it for myself).  It’s not the detail of my sin or others’ sins who have contributed to my failure that brings glory to God.  It’s that a sinner has been redeemed from great sin, though I continue to make mistakes, it’s the grace of God and love of God that keeps me from the great sins of my past.  Not the law and certainly not going into detail about my and immediate family and friends’ failures (I think we’d put Hollywood out of business).    Bring glory to God not to the enemy.

Now, that I have been redeemed, or that you know I have been redeemed from a great life of sin….

check this out….

A girl can dream!

When I lived in Maine, I dreamed of having a beautiful retreat for the body of Christ.  Not a business or hotel.  Just a place they could come and be treated like a queen/king.  I would like to believe that God gave us some measure of that with all the people we hosted in our house over the years.  Just wanted to be relaxed and have a beautiful place for them to relax. 

So my latest dream is a mixture of many dreams.

I have spoken these dreams to few.  But they are real and have been powerful and are for the Lord.  Whether the Lord brings them to fruition is up to Him.  My life as it is now is a dream and I am thankful for so many things.

I am a huge advocate of experiential learning.  For years now I have dreamed of having a farm as an experiential learning place for students.  I know that most people are hands on learners and many of us were categorized as a certain type of student that maybe limited our potential.  I was categorized as academic which may seem perfect, but I have seen the limitations and fears and maybe lack of learning influence it had on my life.  Much of what I learned was soon forgotten and I always afraid to explore the arts because I was labeled academic.  Get what I mean?  Later in life, I learned that I learned by doing and reading.  I also firmly believe the arts are core subject matter in application.  For instance, to cook or build or mix, you must understand math and reading and science.  So.  My dream.  To have a farm where students can apply core subjects through working, planting, selling, painting, entertaining etc.  It doesn’t have to be its own full blown school.  Maybe an extension to our current school. 

I would also love to have a place where people could come and work with their hands, get close to nature, help in growing fresh food, have bonfires, prayer meetings.  Increase the faith in the body of Christ and draw others in.

There it is.  My heart out on a sleeve.  Maybe not expressed clearly but hopefully you get the point.

selected

Houses like this that are for sale keep my vision alive.  And George Muller.  I have been reading a biography on him the past few days for like the third or fourth time.  If you have never read a biography on his life, it’s a must.  Prayer.  Faith.  Truth.  A really Big Savior and Provider.  Really Big.

Pray with me?  Pray for meSmile?

P.s. I would also like to fill it with adopted children but don’t tell my husband, may be just a little too much for him to take all at once Winking smile.

2 comments:

Katie @ minivan diva said...

I so understand your dream. I have always dreamed of having property where I could teach students. Your photos are beautiful!

Sarah, Three Boys said...

You are amazing. Thank you for this post. How wonderful that you are able to dream so big and share your dreams with us. And as I am sure you know, now that you have put forth your dreams they will come back to you. As long as you continue to live in them.

Lovely, lovely, lovely!