Hope 4 The Wounded

"When the dream of our heart is one that God has planted there, a strange happiness flows into us. At that moment, all of the spiritual resources of the universe are released to help us. Our praying is then at one with the will of God & becomes a channel for the Creator's purposes for us & our world."

~Catherine Marshall

This was part of my devotion that I read last night, & I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. The theme of the devotion was about being "passionate about your path". It really struck a chord with me, especially when it speaks of the dreams of our hearts being ones that God has planted there.

When I look back over my life, I wonder how many times the dreams of my heart were influenced by society's ideals & not actual dreams that God so lovingly planted. It's probably too many to count.

However, I can tell you about the dreams God has planted. While the paths to these dreams sometimes felt like a scary nightmare (just keepin' it real), these dreams brought me closer to my Father because for those dreams to be reality, I could never do it myself.

People ask me all the time about why we adopted, how we knew where to go, what to do, etc. I have always said that He kept nudging my heart in ways that I could not ignore, nor did I want to. When I read this quote, it made me smile b/c I could just see those "nudges" as God with a backhoe a gardening shovel planting dreams in my heart.

And here's the result of a couple of those dreams (one of them has been much too busy playing outside to sit still with his sisters for a picture!):

Lord, thank you for these precious treasures conceived in my heart that have become a reality in our family.