Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Dreaming

Before I left for my DTS with YWAM in summer 2012, I kind of had a dream/vision for my life... I really wanted to open a coffee shop that served GOOD coffee, had super chill music, comfy chairs, and an atmosphere that welcomed the broken, the joyful, the hurting, the outcast, the misfit, the radical, and the everyday kid. But more than that, I wanted it to be a place where people could find Jesus. I wanted it to be a place where the homeless had food and shelter and a friend. Somewhere the desperate could find hope, the broken could find healing, and the tired could find rest. 
I dreamed of there not only being a coffee shop but also a community house where people who loved Jesus and other people could live together like the church in Acts 2. Of course, it wouldn't be limited to only followers of Jesus; as one of my lecturers last year said, "every person is a child of God... Some just haven't realized it yet." I love that. But the community would be centered on worshiping Jesus through music and tangible, outward expressions of love toward others - no matter who they were. There's a lot more, but that's pretty much the roots of my dreams - live in community, love on Jesus, love on people, and drink coffee. There's not much better, right? 

I don't really know what happened, but slowly, near the end of my DTS, that dream slid into the background. It had been in the spotlight for so long, yet somehow it managed to just trickle away. Something I always knew about my future was confirmed several times while I was on my DTS - I am going to be a lifelong missionary and life is going to be nowhere near ordinary. Deep in my heart, I've always known God would have me go overseas to who knows where doing who knows what. And that's what I want so badly. So that has become my dream - to move overseas as soon as I possibly can. I guess I let the coffee shop/community house dream go because, honestly, I don't know when that will ever become reality. I don't even know where I will be in a year. Or in 6 months, for that matter. 

But today, my coffee shop community dream came back in full force for the first time in months. I don't even know what to do with all excitement and the ideas that are flying around in my head at 5 billion miles an hour. The only thing I can do is give it back to Jesus. He knows the desires of my heart even better than I do. He knows how He is going to use my gifts and passions. I think I'll just sit back and see what doors He opens and where He leads me next. 

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