Welcome to part 3 of the Chasing Dreams Series.  You can catch up with part 1 here and part 2 here.

How’s your dream chasing coming along?  Have you made any new headway  on identifying them?  Have you made a first step or a first earnest prayer toward the dream of your heart? I hope so.  I really do.

My dream?  It’s on hold this week.  Sometimes, life is like that.  I have to remember that God gives us moments of crystal clear clarity where we can discern the next steps in chasing our dreams. I also believe that God occasionally gives us a gargantuan speed bump so that we’ll slow down.  It can feel like an annoying message, can’t it?  I think of it kind of like the “Low Tire Pressure” light that will come on, from time to time, in a car.

Me?  Oh… I’m just sitting on the side of the road. With a flat tire.   There is definitely something within, (and more than a few “things” without), that is keeping me from moving on to the next step in this journey.

It seems almost ironic that I’m at a standstill.  I had just started reading a book called Your Life as Story  by Tristine Rainer.  In one of the beginning exercises, one is encouraged to write two different short scenarios. I was at a loss as to what to write for one of them.  Ms. Rainer encourages those of us who may become stuck to take a close look at whether the two pieces of writing contain a similar thread.  Mine certainly did! And they pointed out a critical error that I’m making in my dream chasing, right now.

It was instantly clear to me that the dream I am chasing right now needs to be put on hold for a time. I need to hunker down, as Sweetman would say, and really zero in on some Other Important Things before moving forward. And then, just in case I wasn’t getting the message, I believe God provided a Major Speedbump this weekend.  It wasn’t expected. (Sometimes I feel like they come out of nowhere and then your entire body is left shaken and jarred. This was one of those times.)

Looking more closely at the speedbump that was provided, I see now that I had been going much too fast.  I must slow down.  I’m content to simply do this right now:

“Wait on the Lord and keep his way…”

Psalm 37:34

Where are you in your journey?  Have there been any surprise pit-stops or speedbumps for you?