Cameron Shockey

Recently, I have been reminded of the idea of dreaming with God. You know, when you dream of what your life might look like, and then you get really excited about something that consumes every thought. I’m talking to like the point where you can’t even sleep because you are stuck on the excitement and thrill of this idea. Maybe that’s just me, but I’m really led to believe it’s not because of the pure joy that comes with it. But, it’s always the after, when this magical idea turns into this logistical nightmare of “but that wouldn’t make much sense for me to do that.” Well, I am here to say that one of the worst things you could ever do is live a life out of fear disguised as practicality. For the past two years, I dreamed of being a Wesley intern, but I could never really find the reason as to why I wanted to. I tried to seek encouragement from everyone I knew who was interning or had interned in the past, and then I found that I was trying to substitute their reasons for mine. I wanted so badly to have an outspoken and poetic answer, yet I couldn’t. It took a while, and then I realized my heart was all in, but my brain refused to get past the logistics and overbearing practicality of going to college to get a job, so you can support yourself and a family one day. It’s a real fear to disappoint this perfect idea of practical, yet this is the gateway to the “maybe, but probably not.” Also, it is a hard thing to get your heart and your head to align sometimes. This is where declarations over yourself really help. I began to declare over myself that I was going to intern. I was not going to worry about the logistics, or the fears, or the doubts. I was going to declare that I had something on my heart that I was sure God had put there. I have found that the best thing you could ever say is, “I did it because I’m pretty sure God wanted me to.” Some people might disagree with me on this, but I truly believe that a “I’m pretty sure” is a whole lot better than a “I wasn’t completely sure, so I’m not going to try.” Get excited about spending time with God to dream. He is the best at dreaming for your life. Be inspired by what consumes your thoughts, and begin to ask God what that would look like, and what He thinks about it. And then take that inspiration and create something from it because when God’s love and our creativity work together, no disappointment can stop it. It doesn’t take no for an answer. That is what dreaming with God looks like.