98. Moving From Dream to Reality

In this episode of His Glory, Her Good, Amanda and Corinne invite listeners into a warm, hope-filled conversation about dreaming with God, discerning His direction, and trusting His timing. Whether you are carrying a new ministry idea, stepping into a season of change, or wondering if your dreams matter to God, this episode offers biblical encouragement to keep seeking Him with faith and humility. 

Together, they share practical wisdom for moving from dream to reality through prayer, surrender, community, and small steps of obedience. Instead of waiting for perfect clarity or ideal circumstances, Amanda and Corinne remind women in ministry and everyday life that God is present in the process, shaping both the dream and the dreamer as He leads. 

If you are in a season of waiting, building, grieving, or celebrating, this conversation will encourage you to keep praying, keep trusting, and keep walking forward in faith. Listen in for a gentle reminder that God’s plans are good, His timing is wise, and He is able to do far more than we can ask or imagine. 

SHOW LINKS:

• Proverbs 3:5-6 
• Ephesians 3:20 
• Psalm 37:4-5 
• Her Good Retreat 

Connect with Lifeway Girls

Transcript

Sponsor Thanks And Conclave Next Gen

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hey friends, Amina Mejia is here. Before we jump into our episode today, I wanted to take a minute to honor and uplift one of our key sponsors of the HurtGood Retreat this past year, the Texas Baptist Convention. They so believe in this generation of women who are leading Next Gen ministries, and we are so thankful for the way that they invested in the Herd Good Retreat so that women like you who are serving in youth and college ministry can find a place to be equipped and a place to find community. And our friends at Texas Baptist, they actually have a training opportunity coming up for you called Conclave Next Gen. It's a two-day conference designed for everyone serving in Next Gen or family ministry in the local church. So whatever your role in Next Gen is, um, Conclave Next Gen is for you. And listen, their goal is simple create a space for Next-Gen leaders to experience encouragement, meaningful worship, practical training, networking with others in ministry, and access to helpful resources. Um, you can go to Conclave Next Gen on your own or with your whole team. And um, to find out more, we've linked it below. I know that Texas Baptist would love for you to join them um in Bryan, Texas this October.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Welcome

Season Focus And Fall Vision

SPEAKER_03 1:15

back to his Glory Her Good, a podcast for women in student ministry. We are your host, I'm Corinne.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

And I'm Amanda. And we are just so excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

I know. Last week's episode with Jen, such a gift, and I'm excited to continue our season of just talking about. We really wanted to make this season really practical. Um, you're we're gonna be talking about all sorts of different, just I don't know, on the nose kind of topics. We'll be talking about purity later in the season and like how to build trust, um, how to equip your uh students to share their faith. And so it's been, it's gonna be a really fun season. But honestly, this one, we were kind of deciding like where this episode should fall in the season. Yeah. And I I know that we're you're kicking off fall, we're getting ready to just, you know, dream big. What does God want to do with our students this fall? And we kind of wanted to talk a little bit of just like how do you take those God-given dreams that He's like put inside of you and then move them to reality. Yeah. Um, working at Lifeway, you hear a lot of people talk about their big dreams, like everyone wants to be an author, everyone wants to be a writer, right? They want to write a book, um, they want to do blah, blah, blah. And then when you start asking, like, what steps are they taking to like actually pursue that? And then you're like, God's told me to write a book. And I'm like, okay, have you started writing? They're like, no. Uh and so I think that is not uncommon. Um, and I don't think it's just uncommon of like, man, I want to have this big platform. It's like, man, I have this dream to like see my girls love Jesus with their, you know, whole heart, mind, and soul. And yet the actions or the steps that we're putting to place just aren't there to see it. And so um, whether you're dreaming small or dreaming big or not even sure really how to dream at all, um, hopefully this episode will be of

Why Big Dreams Stay Stuck

SPEAKER_01 3:05

encouragement to you. I love to dream. That's like one of my favorite parts of my job is to like think big. Do you like to dream?

SPEAKER_03 3:10

I do. And I've actually had to learn, I think there's some misconceptions with dreaming. I think I've heard a lot of people maybe express like I'm not a dreamer, or like that's not my gifting. And I would actually say the longer I've like walked with the Lord and seen like all of us have capacity to dream. One, because I mean the Holy Spirit's at work in all of us, and I believe like God is our source of creativity and wisdom. And so, but I also think that sometimes there are people that might categorize themselves as not dreamers that actually would have really great insight. And so I think this is actually an invitation for everyone leading in these spaces that if you're not making time to dream or that doesn't come as naturally. Honestly, the encouragement would be to like be more disciplined in making time to dream, even if it's gonna be like a long thing. And so I love dreaming. And I think for me though, some of it has become like just because it may not even happen in this season, doesn't mean it's like a waste of time.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Yeah, that's so good. Um I I'll love to hear like kind of when you how you set aside time to dream. Uh, I for personal life, like because I think we're talking about dreams in all aspects of your life, not just work. Um, but Brandon and I, we every December, usually right before New Year's, we're not big goals people, but we do kind of just dream of like where we want the year to look like. If we could travel anywhere, if we could like what goals, what do we want to do with our kids this year? And we just like have a dream lunch and put it all out on the table. And like that's fun. Most of it never happens. But it's still just like it's fun to kind of just start seeing, like, okay, maybe God's doing something in my life that he's also doing in Brandon's life. And then on a work level, um, my summers are my dreaming. So we're the rest of you guys are like, we're just surviving over here. Um, it is my slower season. And so taking time to evaluate everything that happened in the past year and then setting kind of up like the expectations and projections of like, where do I want Lifeway girls to go? Like, what as a specialist for LifeWay, if I'm here to equip the church, like what do I want this to look like? And um, so sometimes it's like sit down and just like open journal. That's I've said it before, I'm not a big journaler. I'm a big verbal processor. So if I have an idea, I'll just like find whoever is willing to listen and be like, cool. What do you think about this? Yeah. Um, and a lot of stuff has happened. So usually my I I just find my slower seasons to dream. I wouldn't say like every season. Like if you're like dying right now, like trying to keep up and feeling burnt out, it may feel impossible to dream, and that's okay. Like doesn't mean you have to like come up with these big grand ideas when you're already like, I'm just trying to survive over here. But find those like slower seasons or maybe like on your days off in the week of like taking some time, just like uh take a moment to step back and like look at the big picture of like what's going on in your life.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

What does dreaming look like for you when you're just kind of getting started?

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Um, I think honestly, one of the things that it made me think of when you were saying that is I do think another like maybe hindrance of dreaming is feeling like dreaming always has to lead to some productivity of like the dream space has to lead to like full execution of like, wow, look how I use my time. So, like on days off, it's like, okay, but now I've got to work to think about these dreams. And I think for me, how I've tried to like start in the dreaming is more about sitting with the Lord and thinking about like, I think there's so much that he wants to do. Like, and I wonder, like, he doesn't need me, but I like wonder what this could look like. I wonder if anything could happen and we believe that he can do anything, I wonder what he'd want to do, and I want to be available to that. And so I think some of the dreaming is one, evaluating, is there too much noise going on in my life right now?

SPEAKER_01 7:03

He like stole the words out of my mouth. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

Because it's like in those seasons, I look back and it's like if every little bit of margin of extra time is going towards noise or distraction, like I'm not surprised that those are not my like biggest dreams times. And like, yes, there are times where I feel like I can look back and see where that random, quote unquote random thought comes to mind that like is something to write down or think about later. But for the most part, it has been like more of a discipline to like sit and like remove and not even sit in silence or sit with the Lord just to be like, okay, in the next five minutes, I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna come up with a dream. But I think sometimes it's actually the consistency

Building Margin For Real Dreaming

SPEAKER_03 7:45

of like, I'm just gonna sit with the Lord and I'm gonna reflect on the people I'm meeting, the conversations I'm having, the things that are bothering me, the things that feel heavy on my heart. And I'm gonna bring that to the Lord and then also maybe look at that might be an invitation into something. That might be something that He's like, it's a burden that's unique to me. So let's maybe actually like chase that down a little bit. Um, because yes, it might bother other people, but there's something there that's like staying with me. And I think even like right now in our ministry context, like our team of girls was talking about like for a girl's summer night, or even just for the semester long thing of collectively, we're starting to notice that everyone seems to be having a lot of conversations around loneliness. And a lot of girls are feeling lonely. And maybe they're ones that are in big groups of people, so you wouldn't assume they are, but a lot of girls are lacking depth in relationship. Well, then that's not just like, oh, that's unfortunate. So what do we want to do for girls, Snyder? What do we want to do for this? Oh, that might actually be let's start dreaming about what would it look like that from a year from now for us to dream about girls like being deeply known and connected, like in community. But then now that let's dream even bigger to how are we gonna tailor each event we do, each conversation we have, the different intentionality. And I think those are just like I think my favorite ways are when we're sitting with the Lord and then paying attention to his people and like noticing the things that seem a little bit off or could be better, and then going there and kind of chasing down where that goes.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Yep. I 1 billion percent agree. So over the past few years, I feel like I've got into have a lot of like big dreams and dreams that I'd even like asked for, and like the Lord's like, here you go. Um but I will say, like, the Hurt Good Retreat is one that um I will bring up. So if you've been there, great. If you haven't, registration open is October 1st. Come hang out with us. Um but I will say that like it was, I don't know, five years ago, um, almost five years ago, when we were planning our final like teen girls conference, and it was something that was good, but it was like missing a huge element, which was like equipping leaders. Um and I remember leaving that conference and being like, you know, cool, we had it, it was great. We had a couple of girls, perfect. And then my boss like looked at me at the time and was just like, okay, so what if you could take the same amount of money and then just pour it into leaders? Like, what could the impact be? And I was like, and it was just really cool to like be given kind of a landscape of to dream, but it also felt like kind of burdensome of like, how am I supposed to be the one to lead this? Or I don't feel equipped, I don't

Let Burdens Reveal The Invitation

SPEAKER_01 10:35

feel qualified to like dream like this or to like what is it? And so um I would love to encourage you, like, A, like surrounding yourself with people. That's really how the Life of Girls training team kind of came to exist of like finding key people in my life who could help me dream together. Uh, Corinne and I, like, I mean, when you know, we're practically neighbors at the time and being able to just be like, well, what if? Have you ever thought about a podcast, Corinne? You know, and like, what about, you know, we just we it was that dreaming phase and um nothing happened overnight. And so that was 2022 that my boss was like, Well, what if the Hurgood retreat didn't come until 2026? And so that was four years removed uh from where God opened a door to say, it's time to start dreaming to like actually seeing something from reality. Um, but when do we know, okay, yes, we can move this from dream to reality? And we're we're no longer just in the idea ideation phase or the wonder phase. We're in the like, okay, Lord, you're asking me to do this. I'm gonna walk in faith. Even if the door shuts, even if you end up saying no, how do we know it's okay to like start moving forward?

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Yeah. I think obviously these are the like kind of nuanced conversation that it's not a one size fits all. But I think there's like some elements of things that can help. Whereas I would say some of the like moving forward is I would say don't miss the steps that you could be taking that will actually lead like towards the dream that maybe don't feel as significant. So, like you were giving the example of like writing a book. Well, like I think sometimes step one, we're like write a manuscript, like to send to a publisher, where actually it might be like hone the craft of writing and do it because it's something that you love and God has given this to you. Start writing some like content for girls that you're meeting personally, get feedback from even them, and like is this serving them? Or if it is like a dream for like a retreat, like you're saying it took four years to get there. But you, I think in that time we're connecting with the leaders that would need to be some of the people invited to it. Like you're listening to what's the felt need, you're paying attention to some of those things. And I think that's maybe where sometimes in our mind we think next step in the dream

Hurt Good Retreat From Idea To Plan

SPEAKER_03 12:55

process is actually step 12. And so for me, I'm like, I think there's actually a lot more steps we can take, but I think sometimes it's actually breaking it down even smaller. And so if your dream is to see this like event launched at your church, like four girls, I know that right now, step one maybe in your mind ideal is like we execute an event by the end of the year or by the end of next year. But you don't have budget for it, like you don't have any of these things. So maybe actually like the next few steps are who are the like key people that would like love to come into that dreaming? Do they see some of the same needs? Can you invite them into brainstorming? Maybe the Lord will even like bring different dreams together to make it an even better like dream to pursue. Um, but I think don't buy the lie that there's nothing you can do until the big door opens and stay so stuck that you're not doing anything towards the dream. But also like, don't buy the lie that it has to look like really big and significant. And I think back to like how many of the dreams we're getting to live in, it's all the grace of the Lord, but also the like progress was because we kept showing up in the like small, sometimes unseen ways, but trusting that it is leading towards those things. So every conversation matters, every thing you're paying attention to, like nothing's coincidental. And so believing some of that, honing these crafts, if these are the things that you feel called to do, have you even set up meetings with people who have done these types of things? Have you asked questions from like an industry expert? If that's kind of the thing, um, are you having those conversations? Are you developing skills? Are you kind of just waiting till it like falls into your lap? Sometimes that does happen. But I think more often than not, like the daily steps of obedience to like move us towards the dream do eventually get us there.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Um, it's so good. So I my mom is in uh retired last year, and so she's I I call it college 2.0. Amazing. I'm like, you have endless options of ways to spend your time. And you get to choose. Like no one else gets to choose for you. And um, and it's about exploring and trying things and seeing what you enjoy to spend your time. And if you don't like it, you don't have to keep doing it. Um, there's way less pressure here. But um, you know, she had made a comment of like, she's like, I really just like love young women. She's I just don't know what God, God just hasn't revealed Himself to me. Yeah. And I was like, Well, have you like called the church and like asked like what opportunities are there? And she's like, Oh, like maybe, maybe that's the first step. But I think I think sometimes we aren't trying to just wait on God to send the flashing lights or the lightning in the sky to be like, this is it, this is what you're supposed to be doing. And here's the platform and here's the book, and here's the event that you're longing for. Um, and in reality, like God's like, that He doesn't often work like that. Like, and I see that we see that in scripture over and over again. Like he he shows up in the small ways and says, Hey, we trust me. Yeah. Um and I think this leads kind of to where I want to go next of we trust me, even if it doesn't look the way that you thought it would. Yeah. Um, the job that you dreamed up. You're like, oh, this is gonna, I'm dreaming this big thing, finally got the promotion, or finally got moved into a role at a different church that I wanted, or you know, fill in the blank. Um, I got to do the event and it didn't go well. Or I actually I there's this big event that I want to do, and my boss said, no, I can't have the budget for it. Um, what do we do in those moments where God isn't clear and like he hasn't given us confirmation or we're not seeing the fruit of like this like burning passion in our

Take Smaller Steps Than You Think

SPEAKER_01 16:40

heart?

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Yeah. This is the part I think I resonate with because I would say I think this is the part that makes me feel like a dreamer. I think my husband is like a dreamer in the stereotypical sense of like loves to think about change and not get overwhelmed. But I do love to dream. And I think that I have had to work through like feeling disappointed by dreams that didn't play out the way, I thought. But like I think so much of it though is been, at least for me, the conviction of still at the end of the day, like, what is the purpose of dreams and where do they like sit in our lives? Because if our hope is in the dream or our sense of value is in like the fulfillment of the dream and not the dream actually being like a means towards a deeper, like more satisfying life with Christ. Like He is our hope. And so I think about in my own life, I have been able to, I think, better manage disappointment when the dreams are like in the correct place in my life, that they are absolutely can be life-giving and lead to really exciting things, but they're not the end. Like because when even when we've lived the dream, it changes, it doesn't last forever, it doesn't look the way that we thought it would, or we believe that because we're not living quote unquote the dream, then we're not living like a full life in Christ. Whereas if Christ is actually our goal and these dreams help us bring glory to his name, bring other people into like knowing who he is, then these dreams become this really beautiful vehicle to see flourishing and to see really cool things. But that's not the thing that we're like fulfilled by. And I think back, like, there's so much that I know we've joked, but you would, if you were told what your life would be ahead of time, you'd probably be excited about some parts and like disappointed by other parts. Wait a second. I'm not sure about this. But I think even like there are times that I'm tempted to believe like the dream didn't come through. And there are times where I think literally like the way we thought it would play out didn't. And there's like room to kind of grieve that and also don't miss that sometimes in my life the dream hasn't played out exactly how I thought. But if I really step back and get to like the core of the dream, I'm like, oh, God's letting me live this out in a very different way. Um, whereas like I just think back to middle school Corinne had this dream of like serving people and being in ministry and doing these things. And when I'm honest there, that dream is happening in lots of ways. And then it's not,

Disappointment And Putting Hope In Christ

SPEAKER_03 19:20

it's not happening in other ways. But instead of focusing on that, I'm like, oh, like little Corinne like made workbooks and like wrote things. And I was like, maybe I'll want to one day like write something. And so I did take classes and like I did hone some of those skills, but those are even the moments I'm like can be so focused on, oh, that's so weird that it didn't turn out this way. And then it's like, oh my goodness, the Lord let us like write a Bible study together. And things that I feel like I can be like, oh yeah, that's so cool. But I'm like trying to stop and be like, hold on, that is actually part of a dream that the Lord let itself work out. I never thought it was gonna be that specifically, or I didn't know it was gonna look like this on staff or in this role. But I think working through the like hopefully our ultimate dream is for all people to like know Christ and for his name to be magnified. And if all these other dreams help lead us to that, like that's really cool. But let's not lose sight of like the actual dream, the actual goal where our hope should be.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

That's so good.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

I have so many like thoughts running in my brain right now. Um, but one I would say like I always have ideas. Like I love, um, I would have never called myself a creative. Um, but I do like I just have this idea. Um, and I am somebody that I have a note app on my phone and I start putting things down, or I have like whole like book outlines and puts it on on my notes app that will never see the light of day. Maybe, who knows? But um it's this idea that uh specifically there's a book on here that um that I feel like the Lord He likes to talk to me at 11 p.m. at night sometimes. And um there's a book on here that I like every time I'm like, is this the time? Like, do I bring this up now? Like, do I share it? And God's like, well, what if it's never? Like, what if that is just for you and me in that like time of developing something? So good. Like, would it be enough? And I I think that like that dreaming part is like, what if the whole concept of dreaming is not to see like what can I do? Yeah, it's to sit in awe of who God is and to be reminded of who he is and to learn about who he is and to fall in love with the people around us. And um, I do think that like dreams should be about who he is and not just like, man, what can I get out of it? What can I do? What kind of platform can I be put on? Um, because at the end of the day, like God could say no. Yeah. And that's really hard for a lot of us is that if God says no, like, will he still be enough? Like, will my dreams Joy be fulfilled, will my, you know, peace still overflow from me? Or will it not? Um, and so I do think that is some like kind of wrestling. Like if you're you're struggling with saying, God, I thought by now, I thought in my 30s now I'd be married or I'd have that book published or I'd have this. Like, first of all, like don't give up. Like the Lord will and can do whatever he wants to, but also like don't miss out on the God who has like taken this dreaming process to draw you closer to himself. Um, like that is the win. That is the biggest win of achieving or gaining anything or executing anything perfect. Like the goal is to the goal of dreaming is to know God and to know the wonders of who he is. And um, and I'll close with this and we'll do our looking back. Um, and I probably have shared this before, but when we moved to Nashville in 2019, um, I came to work for Lifeway, and my husband took this opportunity to pursue his dream of being a Nashville

When God Strips A Dream Away

SPEAKER_01 23:00

musician. And um, it was crazy, people thought we were crazy leaving two full-time church staff jobs to pursue my husband's music dream, but whatever, it worked out. Um, and so 2019 and ended up going really well. Like, I mean, I knew there were so many like haters being like, well, if you can play guitar better than the guy at the gas station, you may have a chance, you know? Uh like there's just there's so much competition here and blah, blah, blah. But my husband's very good. Like, he's just a gifted musician. And he pursued music for almost a year, um, or I guess a full year. And I remember it was like um right before COVID hit. And my husband's like, Can you believe I have six months of music lined up? And I'm like, it's crazy. Like, it's crazy to think, like, watch like what God did of like allowing my husband to like get to see like kind of his dream come true. And then within a week, COVID came. And guess what? Shut down in Nashville. Every ounce of music. Um, and uh, I mean, my husband went on unemployment and spent the next four months of just like, okay, what do I do? Like, where is my purpose? Where is my identity at? And I will say, like, that was like one of the most like humbling times in his life and our marriage, of like watching him, like God literally taking his dream and stripping it away. And um I'm gonna cry thinking about it, but just like thinking about how if I could go back in time though and look at Brand and say it's the most compassionate, loving thing that God did by stripping your dream away. And God gave him a new dream of being a carpenter and being a builder, and he's still an amazing musician who gets to serve in a different way. But the dream didn't look like how he wanted it. And I think at the time he was probably angry at God and wondering what was going on, but it was the most loving thing God could do by protecting him from that dream. And so I will say that if you feel like your dream has been stripped away or God isn't letting you see it, know that there is a loving God behind the plan and that He is He is worthy of your trust, um, no matter what the plan um or however the dreams come to fruition, and He's better than the dreams. So um, well, as we wrap up, I want to quickly do a looking back question.

Dream Fulfillment And Closing Invitations

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Um What's a dream or ambition that God gave you that you have seen fulfillment in?

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Um I would say uh similar to what I've already shared, but I think the season of ministry that like our family gets to be in is in some ways uh I would could call it unfulfilled because it's not quite what I expected. But when I really step back, coming out of the summer and the team we get to be with and the people we're getting to do ministry with and the families we're with, I'm like this is the dream. Like our kid is coming to camp with us and experiencing so much and making our family better. We're like traveling internationally on mission trips with her, and it makes our life a little crazy, but also like I'm watching her bring more joy to the situation than we could. And I think this dream of like, is it possible to like be a family like in ministry? Sure, there's lots of like complexities to it. But I think the reminder and the prayer that the Lord gave me before I ever saw this part come to fruition is just that like I'm safe to dream with you. Cause I think sometimes where I don't dream is because I'm like, well, God already knows how this is gonna turn out. So it feels kind of silly to tell him or to dream with him things that he's already knows may not happen. So what's the point of dreaming? But I think that's the encouragement is like you are safe to dream with God. It give it all to him, let him refine and strip away the things and trust when he does, but also know that he may do beyond like your wildest dreams. And what an exciting place to be. And I feel like there's grief and weirdness to our season now, and also joy like I've never known before. And that's a different kind of dream fulfillment than I expected it to feel like. So good.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

I would echo a lot of it of just like I feel um a lot of the dreams of that I've had, I would say Herculo Retreat was a great example of that dream, something that God spoke in four years ago. But beyond that dream was 2011 Amanda, who just felt like, I really want to serve church leaders. And then watching, like, I had no idea what that what that was gonna look like or the capacity in which he would allow me to do it. Um, but it from that point, so 2011 to 2026, yeah, 15 years went by. And um, and I think it's just such a reminder that like sometimes like the dreams that we have, it's not a matter in inside of our timing and or inside of our limits of God or inside of our boundaries, but it's bigger and better. So anyway, it's a lot of fun, and um I am thankful for this conversation, thankful for you, and that this is this is a dream for us to get to do that and to have seen it come to reality. So thank you for listening and letting us to get to have these kind of conversations with you. We love it. Um, listen, Her Good Retreat registration will be opening very soon. You can check out more at lifeway.com slash her good. And we hope to see you in March. It's gonna be a great time. All right, see you next time. His glory her good is a production of the Lifeway Podcast Network.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

We're your hosts, Corinne Allen and Amanda Mejis. We are so grateful that you joined us, and we'll see you next time.