Dreams Awaken!

When I was a freshman in high school, our English teacher gave us a creative writing assignment. He gave us a prompt that read, “It was a world inhabited by…” and then we had to fill in the rest of the story with a five-page paper. A story started formulating in my mind, taking me to a fantasy world brought to life by music. When I got home from school that day, I wrote the paper in less than an hour. It was the most fun I had ever had doing a homework assignment!

When I turned the paper in the next week, I didn’t expect anything to come of it. To my great surprise, my teacher picked my story to read in front of the entire class! I was absolutely mortified! I knew my face was turning beet red as he read my work aloud. What would my peers think of me? It sounded so strange being read by someone else. 

When he finished reading, he announced that the story’s author was me, much to my further embarrassment. He told me, “You better make this into a novel someday and get this published!” I was shocked. Like so many of us, I was the hardest on myself. And that is still true to this day. 

I have been writing little stories ever since I learned to hold a pencil. Thankfully, I grew up in a home where my parents and family always encouraged us to go for our dreams. Well, it’s been fifteen years since I started developing that Freshman English assignment into a novel, and I’m finally starting the process of publishing. 

The five-page essay has turned into a three-part series, set in a world with a language and culture of its own. I’ve been feeling for a couple years now that it was time to finish it and get it published.

Yet a few months ago, just as I answered God’s call to finally get these novels published. I started to have doubts. Satan started saying, “It’s too late. You missed the boat. You waited too long to get this published, and now it will never happen…” And for a moment, I wondered if it really was too late. I mean, it’s been almost fifteen years! Our world has changed so much since I was a freshman. Would my words really have an effect anymore? 

I talked to my husband as soon as those lies started filling my mind, and he was like, “Umm, of course, it’s not too late!” 

It’s true that I probably could have written and published my book series a long time ago. But I wouldn’t have had the knowledge or connections I have now. I’ve been working as a ghostwriter for the last year and a half. Running my own jewelry business has taught me about marketing and networking. Through Sanctioned Love, I met a fantastic publisher, Kristi Stalder, who is helping me on my journey to getting my books published! 

This experience made me wonder: how many other people out there have a dream from God that think, “It’s too late.” Maybe you’ve held a dream in your heart since you were a kid, just like me. But the years have flown by, and you think you missed your chance. 

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but YOU HAVE NOT MISSED YOUR CHANCE! The Bible says that God is not constrained by our timeline. I feel that God is calling us to be courageous, take those dreams off the shelf, and go for them! You know why? Because God put them in your heart for a reason, and He needs your unique creativity to be released in the earth– even for such a time as this. 

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.

Your dream is not just for you. It’s to bring life to those around you! I know there has been a lot of “hope deferred” in the last year. God wants your dream to come to life so you can impact others for His kingdom. You see, I think we sometimes get this skewed idea that going for our dream is selfish. I used to want to be a famous writer and travel worldwide doing interviews and book signings. But God changed my perspective. I don’t want fame. I want to make His name famous. I want to see a lost and dying world come to know my God as the loving, kind, and powerful One that He is. And He can use something as simple as a novel to do it. 

Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Allow Father God to pursue your dream with you. I believe He is giving His Church a special anointing for their dreams in this season. Maybe you feel like some of your dreams have died. Let Him breathe a fresh wind from His Spirit on your heart, and bring those dreams to life again!

Written by: Nicole Boyd