There are times when we need an infusion of hope and a reminder regarding the power of our dreams. If your faith is challenged and hope has lost its way, remember—every setback is temporary. Don’t let discouragement win or loss write your story. Listen to this podcast and allow your heart to dream again!
There are times when we need an infusion of hope and a reminder regarding the power of our dreams. If your faith is challenged and hope has lost its way, remember—every setback is temporary. Don’t let discouragement win or loss write your story. Listen to this podcast and allow your heart to dream again!
Dutch Sheets: 0:00
Hey, welcome to conversations with Dutch. I'm really looking forward to talking with you today about dreaming again. We talked about that a week ago. We just felt like, you know, so many people were discouraged or were experiencing hope deferred because of the virus and just all that it's created. You know, some people are lonely, other people hurting because they've lost jobs, etc. And I just wanted to challenge people to keep dreaming. And if they've stopped dreaming, to start again, to not lose faith, to believe. To not allow what the Bible calls "hope deferred", to creep in and steal from you your ability to run the race of life. That verse in Proverbs says hope deferred makes the heart sick. If you have heart disease, you can't believe you can't run and you have to get that healed before you can go on with life. So we talked about that. About how God gave us a dreaming nature. You can't give up on the dream. We talked about how the same word in the Old Testament, the same Hebrew word is the word "create" and the word "dream". God put in dreaming the power of creating. And they're the same word, basically in Hebrew. Isn't that amazing? We talked about how God gave us his dreaming nature. He made us to dream. Today I just want to continue with that theme somewhat. But I just wanna try to encourage you today to press on. To not give up. You know, I tell you, I've learned of all the things in my 60 plus years of life. The longer I live, the more I believe one of the most spiritual traits or the most powerful spiritual trait and the fruit of the spirit is just perseverance. You know, life is all about the ability to persevere. So I'm just going to talk about that today and how God wants to turn situations around. He wants to restore. He wants to mend and help us believe again. Here's a great story that's in my book called "Dream". It says at the Royal Palace of Tehran in Iran, you can see one of the most beautiful mosaics in the world. The ceilings and walls flash like diamonds and multifaceted reflections. But to create this priceless work, the architect had to rob destruction of its power. Originally, when the palace was designed, the architect specified huge sheets of mirrors on the walls. When the first shipment arrived from Paris, however, they found to their horror that the mirrors were shattered. The contractor, threw them in the trash and brought the sad news to the architect. Amazingly, he ordered all the broken pieces collected. Then he smashed them into tiny pieces and glued them to the walls where they became a mosaic of silvery, shimmering bits of glass, broken to become beautiful. I go on to say in the book, "The architect of life has designed some wonderful dreams for you, that if you've been broken through that brokenness, he wants to create a mosaic of his glory and present you to the world as a testimony of his grace and his love." You know, I would never make light of your pain or anyone else's pain are or set back. There are a lot of people right now that are struggling. But what I always try to do it is encourage people and help them see that this doesn't have to be the last chapter. God is not finished. He always and I mean that he always has a way to turn things around and move us on to victory, to breakthrough. If you've lost your job, God has a better job. If you created a business and it went under through this time, God wants to help you create a better business or he wants to hook you up with someone else that's gonna pay you more money than you ever thought you could make in what you were doing before. I don't know. I'm not a smart as God, so I don't know how he wants to do it, but I will say this to you: God is never caught by surprise. He's never caught off guard and whatever has happened to you, he knows how to turn it around and he will turn it around. There's a great story that I've always loved about the singer Susan Boyle. As a contestant on "Britain's Got Talent," she pursued her lifelong dream of a successful singing career at 47 years old. Her age, her plain looks and her shyness cause the judges (and those watching) to initially be somewhat condescending and dismissive of her. Perhaps you saw later how her introduction and opening interview was met with mock smiles and derisive nods by the panel of judges. I even heard a few chuckles arising from the crowd as this misguided dreamer shared her dream of being a professional singer. But then Susan began to sing and literally mouths flew open. Applause exploded and the star or should I say, a dream was born. On the surface, the title of her flagship song, "I Dreamed A Dream" (from the Music of Les Miserables) seemed perfect for the dream come true story of this middle aged phenom. I dreamed a dream. The irony, however, if you ever listen to it, truly listen to the song, is that the song is really quite depressing. Its story of a person who has completely given up on dreaming, and the song ends with the line: "Life has killed the dream I dream." What a disheartening statement: "Life has killed the dream I dreamed". How tragic and sad and how often repeated. But the story doesn't end there or didn't end there for Susan Boyle, and this is what I love.... She robbed that song of its meaning. This amazing lady defied all odds and rode one of the world's most famous "dead dream songs", to her dream. That's incredible. A song about the loss of a dream has now brought inspiration to millions A dirge birthed a dream. Isn't that incredible? I love it. She robbed the song of its meaning and a you're in a situation right now where you've experienced loss or setback, you just need to decide: I'm gonna rob that its meaning. I'm not going to let that be the interpretation of my life or where I am. I'm just going to move on, i'm going to rise up out of this . I'm going to dream again. I'm going to live again. I'm going to risk again. I'm going to believe again. I'm going to move forward. You may not be sure how, you don't have to know how to make that decision. You just have to know: I'm going to keep going and I'm going to overcome this. God's going to help you do that. There is a great story that I share in this book. The book again is called "Dream". It's about a young man named Monty Roberts. Monty was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who worked hard. Monty and his dad worked hard, training horses at many farms, stables, ranches. His high school career was continually interrupted because of this work schedule and it was very challenging for Monty. As a senior, one of his classes he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to do and be when he grew up, Monty wrote a lengthy paper describing his goal of someday owning a magnificent horse ranch. He drew a diagram of the 200 acre Dream Ranch, detailing the location of buildings, stables, a track and a 4000 square foot home. A great deal of Monty's heart went into this project. He was a dreamer and he ran the risk of putting his dream on paper for others to read. A few days later, Monty received the paper back from his teacher, and on the paper was a large, red "F". When he asked the reason for the "F", his teacher responded, "This is an unrealistic dream for a boy like you. You have no resources, no money. You have to buy the land, breeding stock, pay stud fees, among other things, of course. There's no way you could ever do this." I can only imagine, maybe. I can't fathom any other reason why a person would do this. Maybe thinking that they were doing this young man a favor. Maybe helping him come back to reality, perhaps, so he wouldn't be disappointed in one day. I don't know. But the teacher said to Monty, "If you'll rewrite this paper, with a more realistic goal, I'll reconsider your grade." Well, Monty, he thought long and hard about this for a week. Talk to his dad. His dad said, "I don't know what you should do, son. I don't know. But I feel like this is pretty important decision for you." Finally, Monty made up his mind. He turned in the same paper, making no changes at all, and informed his dream stealing teacher... You can keep the "F". I'll keep my dream. Years later, Monty's dream became a reality. He now lives on that 200 acre ranch that he dreamed of in his 4000 square foot home, raising the horses he dreamed of raising, and Monty has his high school paper framed over the fireplace. Don't you just love it? And I'm just saying to you today: don't let anything steal from you, you're dreaming nature. Don't let a virus write the last chapter for you. Don't tear up your paper, your dream. And beyond this virus, don't let anyone steal you're dreaming nature. Don't let loss, setback. Don't let the fact that you were betrayed by someone that you loved and it broke your heart. Don't let rejection, abuse, divorce, disease. Don't let anything steal from you, your ability to dream. I was impacted greatly by a story that I heard years ago about a man who lived on a ranch and he walked outside late one night, he said, Suddenly, out of the night came the sound of wild geese flying. He said, I stood and I watched the geese. I love the sound. Then he saw them flying across and in front of the moon. And he could see them very clearly and he just says: Wow, that was incredible. Then he says it might have ended there, except for the sight of our team mallards on the pond. They heard the wild call that they had once known. The honking of the geese out of the night, sent little arrows of prompting deep into their wild yesterdays. Their wings fluttered, but it was a feeble response. They stayed on the pond. The urge to fly, to take their place in the sky (for which God made them), was sounding in their feathered breasts. But they never raised from the water. The matter had been settled long ago. The corn of the barnyard was just too satisfying, and now their desire to fly only made them uncomfortable. Wow. If you have stopped flying, make a decision to start again. If you've stopped dreaming, tell the naysayers that they can keep their "F". You were made to dream. If loss or pain has created "hope deferred" in you, ask God to heal your heart and reawaken you're dreaming nature. I have told people many times: Don't ever lose your urge to fly. I love the story of Charles Dutton. A successful Broadway star from years past, no one imagined that Charles Dutton would ever amount to anything because he spent may years imprisoned for manslaughter. When asked how he was able to make such a remarkable transition, this now famous, successful Broadway star replied...and this is so profound to me.... "Unlike the other prisoners, I never decorated my cell." Wow. What did he mean by that? I never made it my home. I decided this wasn't permanent. I'm not going to get used to this. I'm not going to get comfortable with it. I'm not going to lower my dreaming standard to this cell. I go on to say in the book "Dream", The mundane art of cell decorating is common but unnatural. It's a learned art. It's not natural, it's learned. Unintended for us by our creator. This practice is the equivalent of being dreamless or purposeless. Decorating ones cell means we've resolved ourselves to making a current rut permanent. You don't have to be in a prison to live in a cell. Your current job could be one or the job you lost, maybe. Or it could be that your present circumstances have you locked up. Seems like there's no way out. I'm just saying to you: don't you dare decorate your cell. Don't allow what's happened to you to keep you in a place of imprisonment. You know, my brother shares the story of watching (in person, live in the room), some open heart surgeries, several years ago. He had a person in his congregation, (Tim is a pastor), that was a part of a team, an open heart surgery team. This guy said to him, Would you like to watch live, an open heart surgery or two? And Tim said well, yeah I would. He said, I can allow you to do this. You can stand at the head of the patient, we will be on either side all the way down both sides of the table and you can stand at the head and watch. You can't talk. You can't move around or cause distraction. He jokingly said, "If you can't take it, you pass out, you're on your own". But he said, I can allow you to do this if you want to. And my brothers just said, "I would love to do that." So he made it to the operating room and he stood at the head of the table while they opened up two different people. He watched him saw the sternum and go down the chest and open up. It is incredibly fascinating to him. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it, but he did. He said it was kind of like a M.A.S.H unit. You know, it was funny to him because these people did this so much. They did 4 or 5 open heart surgeries a day at some times. Depending on how long they took. He said that they would be working on the heart and talking about vacation, Asking, "how's the family?" You know, just ordinary things because it was so routine to them. On the second patient of the day, they disconnected the heart and the machine was doing the work of pumping the blood through the body while they were working on the heart, making repairs, doing whatever they were doing. Then when it came time to put things back in place and disconnect from machine, then get the heart doing the work again. On this particular person, they couldn't get the heart to start beating again. And he said they had two or three things that they did. Massage it, they had some kind of a solution that they poured on it or I don't know, they massaged it with it, whatever. He didn't know a lot about what was happening, but he said the room got tense. He said it was kind of lighthearted at first, but all of a sudden he could tell that the atmosphere changed and the room was tense. Nobody was talking. Everybody was working, they were all really focused. Then it became clear to him what was happening. They were trying to get this heart to beat and it won't restart. And finally, when the head surgeon had exhausted all of the methods that they use to try and get the heart to beat again, this surgeon leaned over and spoke into the ear of this obviously unconscious, anesthetized person. He said to her, "Ma'am, I need your help. We can't get your heart to beat. Please tell your heart to beat again" and instantly her heart began to beat. Even the doctor was shocked. Tim said he looked around the table, just kind of shrugged, he had never seen anything like it before. It so impacted everyone. It impacted my brother. And of course he took that as a picture for us of what we need to do and what needs to happen spiritually and emotionally in our life. Sometimes the heart just stops beating. We can't believe, we can't dream. They don't wanna keep going and sometimes you just have to tell your heart: Hey, it's time to beat again. It's time to dream again. You are going to risk. You're coming out of the shell. You're not going to sit and go into depression or discouragement. You're going to rise up above this and you tell your heart to beat again. That's what I think the Lord wanted me to say you in this podcast today. I think he wants to say: Don't you dare let any setback be the final chapter. Don't you dare let your heart stop dreaming, beating. Don't you dare decorate your cell. Don't you dare write another paper that gives up on the dream. Don't you do it. Even if it looks like things are fractured, the great architect of heaven knows how put it together, do something that never entered your mind to do. He wants to turn that loss into something he can use. He'll turn it into something beautiful. I just want to challenge you with that. I want to pray over you right now. I want to ask God to give you strength to do this. I want him to give you grace to move past the pain, the frustration, the discouragement. He's going to do that. I believe right now listening to me, people are going to receive strength to move on, to rise up again. Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters listening to me today. I pray for those, Lord, that are struggling with discouragement, despair. I pray for those that have lost jobs. Money. I pray for those, Lord, that have had setback not even related to this virus. They lost a friend, a marriage. Oh, maybe they went through a financial situation and lost their savings. Maybe they lost a home. Maybe they lost a friend. Maybe they lost a mate, a husband, a wife. Lord, I pray that you would give them strength and grace. If they decorated the cell, to take it all down To get every picture off the wall. Do whatever it takes to say I'm not going to live here. This is not my final place. My home. This is not where I'm going to stay. I pray, Lord, that you would give them the ability to turn the dirge into a song of destiny, into a dream. Lord, you could do that. You can do that. You can turn any situation around. I pray that you would give them faith to make that decision today, Lord, that they'll just open their mouth and say it. Tell the heart to beat again, to dream. that they won't wall themselves off and isolate themselves and go into depression, into discouragement. Lord, I pray that you'll pull them up out of that. I pray that they will focus on your ability to transform, your ability to heal. You're a God of unlimited resources. The word "impossible" doesn't exist with you. You can do anything. And I pray, Lord, that you'll give them the ability to do it. With some, Lord, you're going to have to heal them first. I know that. You're going to have to help them get through the pain, the grieving, the loss. I know that. But you can do that. And I'm asking you to do that. I'm asking you to visit them right now as the comforter. You gave yourself that name. The Paraclete. You called Holy Spirit "The helper". The word also means the comforter. That's amazing to me. You named yourself comforter. Give them comfort right now, Lord. Give them peace so that they can get back to a place of hope and strength and faith. I bless them with that. I encourage them. I say the best is ahead of you. Not behind you. My father I ask these things in Jesus name and I give you praise and thanks in advance. Amen. Hey, I love you all. I know this is a little different, this podcast. But I just want you to know that you're loved and you're gonna make it. Everything's going to be OK, you can do this. So again, Blessings. We'll see you next time.
Outro: 28:01
Thank you for listening to this podcast from Dutch Sheets Ministries. If you would like more information about us or if you've been impacted by this podcast would like to sew into the ministry, please visit our website at Dutchsheets.org