8-3-09 Dreams

Dreams…..

Two years ago at our wonderful ladies retreat, we were encouraged to dream. What kind of dreams and desires has God placed in us, so we can reach our destiny, or just plain because He wants us to have it all?

My whole life I have known that God has called me to the ministry. From the time I was little, I knew without a shadow of doubt that I was His and He had a special place for me among the body. I just didn’t know where or how or even why.

I’m going to rewind a bit for all of this to make sense. I grew up in a missionary/pastors family. From the time I can remember God was my Father. I officially accepted Him at the age of 6 and was baptized shortly after.

I got married at 21 to a man who was going into ministry. Ahh, I thought “here is my ministry”. I helped him get through Bible School and Seminary. One day shortly after his graduation my “ministry” came crashing down. He left me for another woman. “How dare he”, I thought. “Now I will never be able to go into ministry.”…You see, I came from a “faith” that didn’t believe that a woman could minister like that, especially alone.

God is so gracious…10 years later, I met a wonderful Christian man, who had the same dreams that I did, who had gone through the same things that I had. Please listen, I in no way advocate divorce, but it was not our choices. Our spouses made that decision for us.

Oh did I try to find a place to be in ministry! I even went out and got myself a Master’s in counseling and Bible. I was still single then) “I’ll show them, I’ll still be in ministry”, and I was…but I really didn’t love it. I kept saying “IS this all there is?” So Rich and I went through numerous ideas. We would approach friends and say “We think God has called us to do this”. They would smile and say “we’ll keep praying”.

Several years ago, God opened our eyes and hearts and said “Honor my ministers, It’s hard out there.” I thought “what?” I know that, I grew up in ministry. I want to be a part of that, I want to stand before thousands of people and tell my story. God said “listen” that is NOT what I said. “Honor those I have called”. Rich and I talked at the end of the day, and God had placed the same thing in his heart earlier that day. How awesome is our God.

Sure there have been times that we wondered if the call is real. But God has kept that BURNING desire in our hearts.

Cheryl Stevens