For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
I believe the place to start dreaming with God is in Scripture. A ballet dancer keeps her eyes focused on one object when she is turning. Dancers, you know this—you breathe it and practically do it in your sleep. A dancer focuses on one object, turns, and whips her head around quickly to bring her focus right back to that same spot. This spotting prevents dizziness and keeps her balanced. And so, in this same fashion, we as daughters of Christ can spot the truth of what Scripture says about who we are to God, who He is, and what He has to say about our dreaming hearts.
Before you set out on your dreaming journey, God invites you to see yourself as He sees you. He handpicked your personality traits, your character qualities, and even your quirks. He drizzled in some unique talents, abilities, and skills and sprinkled in emotions and compassion to stir things up a bit. What you see as weaknesses, He uses as strengths. He made you just the way He wanted. You’re not a rough-draft version of yourself. He doesn’t want you to try to be like everybody else. He wants you to be you! Dreaming with God is becoming the you He had in mind when He made you.
Scripture tells us in Psalm 139:13–14 that each of us was made by God, intricately fashioned and designed by Him. Many of us have heard this truth before, but over time, the messages we hear and see from the world drown out God’s truth. In a sense, we lose our spot, our focus on who God says we are. If I could just look you in the eyes for a moment, I would love to pour some truth from Scripture right into your heart. Be warned, this is about to get really mushy . . .
He knows you better than anyone. “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.” Psalm 139:1
He knows your thoughts. “You perceive my thoughts from afar.” Psalm 139:2
You are beautiful to Him. “You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.” Song of Songs 4:7
He sees you as forgiven, cleansed of your sins. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
He is always with you. “Do not fear, for I am with you.” Isaiah 41:10
He created you for His glory. “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Isaiah 43:7
He made you and formed you. “He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you.” Isaiah 44:2
He thought you up before the beginning of time. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” Jeremiah 1:5
He loves you. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3
He delights in you and sings over you. “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
He knows the number of hairs on your head. “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:30
You are His daughter. “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18
You are His child. “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.” Galatians 3:26
He cares about every detail of your life. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
Below is a section of Psalm 139 I really want you to soak in as a message to your heart. Insert your name in these verses, or any of the verses above, and be encouraged. I also changed the I’s to she below to help us see that this is a message for each of God’s daughters:
O Lord, you have searched Sarah.
You know when she sits and when she rises; you perceive her thoughts from afar.
You discern her going out and her lying down; you are familiar with all her ways.
Before a word is on her tongue you know it completely, O Lord.
You hem her in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon her.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for her, too lofty for her to attain.
Where can she go from your Spirit? Where can she flee from your presence?
If she goes up to the heavens, you are there; if she makes her bed in the depths, you are there.
If she rises on the wings of the dawn, if she settles on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide her, your right hand will hold her fast.
If she says, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
For you created Sarah’s inmost being; you knit her together in her mother’s womb.
She praises you for she is fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, she knows that full well.
Her frame was not hidden from you when she was made in the secret place, when she was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw her unformed body; all the days ordained for her were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Many of us have heard these familiar words, but somewhere along life’s path, we lost sight of them or maybe even stopped believing them. As I drive my boys to elementary school, I love asking them the same old question, and they always give me the same answer. “What’s the first verse that pops into your head as you head into school today?” I ask. With giggles and smiles, they shout, “God knows how many hairs on your head!” (their version of Matt. 10:30). And we laugh together, and it never gets old. It’s a silly little thing we do, but I long for the message to sink into their hearts that God knows them and made them each so special. I want them to be amazed by our big God who is all-powerful but also personal. And as they tumble out of the car, the verse catches my heart by surprise, reminding me that this truth is not just for little ones—my grown-up heart needs to remember it too.
You may have heard it said a thousand times, but are you living like you know you are made and loved by God? You are wired by the God of the universe for a specific purpose. He thought you up before you were even conceived. To be thought about, dreamed up, and created by God . . . let that sink in for a moment. He created the way you smile, the way your eyes light up when you laugh, the tilt of your head when you are making a decision, and the carriage of your walk. He picked out the color of your hair and formed the muscles in your body. He carefully tailored your personality to match your unique calling. He sprinkled in love, joy, and delight and mixed it up with His expertise and gentle care. He made your toes, your nose, and your eyelashes. And He delights over you. You are one of His masterpieces. It sounds so amazing when we stop to really think about the wonder of it all, but when life gets full, we forget Who we belong to. We forget we are made in the image of God.
I always love hearing the story my mom tells of when I was born. She cried tears of joy when she found out I was a girl. She held me on her shoulder her whole hospital stay. That makes me feel so special. Now I love telling my boys the stories of when they were born. What astonishes me as a mom is how different each of them looked when they were born. I assumed they would all look alike for some reason. My first son, Camp, was born with hair as dark as mine and lots of it! The nurse was able to comb over his hair from birth, and he immediately had a traditional, freshly combed boy cut right from the start. So precious. My second son, Cooper, was born big and strong, and his hair was light-colored like his daddy’s. Cooper had his own special look and personality. Then when my third son, Colt, came along, the first thing we said when he entered the world a couple weeks early was, “He’s so tiny!” And to top it off, he had blue eyes, unlike his brown-eyed brothers. God is incredibly creative to give each of them their own unique look and personality. I could write a book about each of them and how I would never want to change anything about them.
I’m sure that’s how God wants us to feel about ourselves, although not in a haughty or prideful way, but in an awestruck, confident way. He wants us to feel confident in who He made us to be and at peace with the way He made us.
He wants us to see the goodness of the way He thought us up. My favorite little jewel in Psalm 139 is hiding in verse 14: “I know that full well.” These words challenge us to know—to really, really know—we are fearfully and wonderfully made. I think I lived many years of my life knowing this but not understanding or believing it “full well.” My hope is that together we can start to grasp the sweetness of this truth in a deeper way. When we spot the truth about who we are as God’s daughters, we will see our own very individual, incredibly handcrafted, one-of-a-kind beauty, and that will completely impact our dreaming journeys.
One wonderful thing about understanding how God sees us is that it points to how amazing He is. That He knows us so personally and loves us so deeply speaks of His majesty and greatness. That He breathes life into us points to His unfathomable power. Psalm 139 is not just a self-esteem pick-me-up; it’s a beautiful reflection of worship to our powerful and sovereign God. Seeing Him as Creator leaves us in awe of Him—and that’s a beautiful place to begin our dreaming journeys.
Gifted and Wired on Purpose
In addition to your physical body and creatively designed appearance, God also intricately shaped and crafted your heart, with all its quirks, desires, feelings, emotions, dreams, gifts, talents, abilities, callings, and personality. We tend to be hard on ourselves for being a certain way. I get goose bumps during Christmas commercials, I cry through worship songs at church, and I get giddy over coffee with pumpkin spice creamer. Sometimes I step through piqué arabesque when I’m walking from the den to the hallway, I could sit on my back porch for hours with my journal and pen, and my favorite place on earth is at home with all my boys. Pots of flowers speak to my soul and long walks are my go-to source for stress relief. Sitting by my mom’s fireplace, coffee cup in hand, is a place I love to be. Pedicures with my sister are a must—not so much for the pedicures but for the time with her. Dancing with the Stars gives me chills and browsing bookstores, well, be still, my heart. That’s just the short list!
All the little things that seem insignificant—even pointless—are God’s touch of creativity in each of us. The things that give us joy, make our hearts go pitter-patter, and provide us a boost in our day are the very things given to us by God to bless us and steer our hearts toward His dreams for us. What makes you giddy? Are you outgoing or more introverted? What makes your heart dance? What are your likes and dislikes? I encourage you to start a list of the little things that make you you and spot the truth that God made you this way! And you know what else? The little things you do and say, the little things that make you who you are and separate you from the crowd—they make God’s heart dance. They may even make Him laugh. Your uniqueness, quirks, personality, and gifts make you stand out, and they are needed in this world. God shaped your heart the way He did to make an impact on the world and to move you to embrace all He designed you to be. He is going to use the shape of your heart to shape the world around you.
Our dreaming journeys with God begin when we see that the way He made us actually points to His dreams for us.
Scripture is our strong foundation for the dreaming ahead. For a ballet dancer, doing exercises at the barre every day is sort of like brushing your teeth every day. It’s something you’ve got to do. Barre is a dancer’s foundation for all her dancing and performing. Her technique is refined and strengthened at the barre. The exercises she repeats over and over again protect her from injury, warm up her body properly, and prepare her for her load of rehearsals and performances. The dancing all begins at the barre. In the same way, our journeys of dreaming with God begin in Scripture. When we spot the truth that out of His great love for us, He created, wired, and shaped us with special purposes in mind, our sweet dances of dreaming with God really begin. As we dance through our journeys together, may we continuously spot the foundational truth about who we really are—loved and unique daughters of Christ—and who He is—our Creator and Savior.
Prayer, Scripture, and Reflection
for Your Dreaming Heart
Lord, help me spot the truth about who You made me to be. Thank You for lovingly creating me for Your glory and for specific purposes You have in mind for me. Thank You for the gift of Scripture, and may it always be the foundation for my dreaming heart.
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105
“The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:130
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
1. How has God personally gifted and wired you?
2. How does spotting truth about who you are affect you as you dream?
3. What negative thoughts about who you are need to go?
4. As you reflect on God’s creativity, how does it affect your view of Him?