The alarm sounds as your dream state fades along with the sense that God was speaking to you. This has become a regular occurrence. Following those fleeting sleep moments, are a day full of tasks, to-dos, appointments, and reminders. There is no time to ponder what was spoken to your unconscious the night before. You grapple with a nagging sense that there is more to life. There is more to you. Isn’t there? This question leads to exploration!

Maybe it has taken years or possibly decades to explore what the God dream was all about. Alternatively, you might be someone who merely heard the whisper of the God dream and jumped at the chance to uncover it. Regardless of how long it might have taken, the significance and magnitude of the dream are likely mind-blowing. God’s dreams for us are only achievable when we partner with Him.

So whether you are called to mission work in the third world or to rewriting the curriculum for children’s ministry, it will need divine partnership to accomplish.

If you have a good idea of what God is calling you into, how do you begin?

Take the First Step

Many dreamers wait until they have everything ordered before they begin. For some that looks like saving up as much resource as you think is necessary in order to fully realize the dream. They check their bank account and say, “One more week, one more month, one more year.” While it is prudent to save and plan, would you be willing if God said “GO” today? It’s kind of like steering a parked car. You might be able to turn the wheel, but the car doesn’t move. When you have a God dream, put it in drive and take the first step of faith. He already has the route planned and has plenty of resources to get you where he has called you.

Failure is Just Feedback.

If you have taken more than a few steps, you will eventually stumble. When we begin to follow God’s dream for our life, we are like toddlers learning to walk – awkward and unsteady. We are bound to run and scrape our knees on occasion. This may come in the form of an overlooked opportunity, loss of a job, change in relationship, etc. You were certain that the dream was supposed to look a specific way, and it doesn’t appear to be turning out as you planned. Momentary failure is just feedback.

View it as an opportunity to learn and grow. This helps take the sting out of the fall.

Refine the Idea of the Dream

What starts out as a desire to do mission work overseas might end up looking like a ministry down the street. God uses our own imaginations to help us get going. However, we can get rigid in our thinking, which limits what God can do with us and through us. Just like clay on a potter’s wheel must remain flexible to be shaped, we must remain willing to refine and reshape our “image” of the dream.

Stay Focused

Being flexible and allowing the dream to be refined is important, but it can lead to distractions. Evaluate the refinements through the lens of whether or not the end result will still lead to the purpose of the original dream. If you can still accomplish what you feel God has called you to do, then proceed with gusto! If not, be disciplined enough to refocus on what the goal is.

Don’t Despise the Days of Small Beginnings

If you have a big God dream, it can feel far away, unachievable, and hard. The magnitude of the dream can paralyze us. It is important to keep the mindset that every great work ever accomplished started small.

It started with an idea, took a few steps, made a few mistakes, and was reshaped over time. The mundane pursuit of the dream can cause us to lose enthusiasm or momentum. Remind yourself that just because your dream hasn’t amounted to anything…it just hasn’t amounted to anything YET!

God fashioned each of us with a specific design, purpose, and dream. Accomplishing them is easier said than done but worth the journey. The first step is the hardest. Make sure you take it regardless of the difficulty. Set your expectation that you will experience failures and setbacks. Those momentary bumps refine the dream to accomplish more in us and through us. Don’t let distractions detour you too long. Lastly, don’t despise how slowly your dream progresses or how small it might seem. Just keep moving forward, trusting God is leading, shaping, and building something amazing. Pursuing God dreams for your life will help you discover the “more” in life and yourself. There​ ​is​ more if you are willing to go after it.