3 Ways to Be a Dreamer Who DOES

God made me a dreamer.

And not just a daydreamer, but an encourager of others’ dreams. I love to talk about God-sized dreams with the people I’m blessed to share life with.

Dreams and the inspiration behind them are some of my favorite stories to hear and tell.

But being a dreamer sometimes gets a bad wrap.

Those who dream aren’t always viewed as do-ers, makers, and chance-takers. Instead, they’re often thought of as impractical and unrealistic.

Being a dreamer doesn’t have to mean constantly living inside a world of make-believe and impossibility, though.

It’s possible to be a dreamer who DOES.

Practically speaking, what exactly does that look like? Well, in my own dream-DOING journey, here are three things I’ve found to be true when it comes to being a dreamer who DOES:

1.    Start your dream with God.

Asking God to place His dreams on our hearts is truly the first step in becoming a dreamer who does. The dreams we could come up with for ourselves pale in comparison to the dreams He has for us.

I often dream with God on the pages of my journal, and as a writer and creator, I’m constantly seeking to keep Him at the center of my creative process — from the dreaming to the doing all the way to seeing the dream become reality in His perfect time and way.

Ask God what He dreams for you and your life and how He wants to use your gifts and passions and loves. Then quiet your heart to listen and get ready for an exciting new adventure.

2. Take small steps with big courage.

Dreams aren’t chased and caught in a day. The biggest dreams become reality with small, but steady acts of faith and courage.

It took me almost a year to write my eBook An Inspired Life (a huge dream of mine!). When I started, I envisioned the whole process going much faster, but as I journeyed through the adventure, one of the biggest lessons God taught me was: don’t rush the process. There was purpose and value in each little leap of faith — from the initial idea, to the writing, refining, designing, publishing, and promoting. God showed me the importance of being present and focused during each of those phases. And rather than rushing to the end of the process with one giant and unsteady leap — or being too afraid and overwhelmed to even begin at all — He asked me to take small steps with big courage and let Him lead the way.

What’s the next small step you can take that will bring you one step closer to the dream God’s placed on your heart?

3. Find your dream team.

We aren’t meant to journey through life alone, and I believe we aren’t meant to pursue our dreams alone, either. God’s blessed me with a precious community — both online and off — of friends and family members who are a regular part of my life and the dreams God has placed on my heart. They encourage, they pray, they advise. And I do the same for them. I also hope to have this in my marriage someday. I hope and pray that my future husband and I will be dreamers and doers together.

Think about who your dream team is — or who you would like it to be. Do you make it a point to share your dreams with them — and listen to theirs? What’s one way you can be more intentional about time with your dream team?

I hope and pray that by sharing my experiences with you here, you’ll find even more passion in your heart to DREAM and DO. I hope you give thanks for your God-sized dreams.

And I hope starting right now, today, you’ll start prayerfully taking small steps toward them.