If you’ve ever had a “this isn’t going how I thought it would go” realization, this post is for you.
I’ve personally been having my fair share of those moments lately, and I wanted to let you in on some encouragement I’ve been getting, with the hopes it will encourage you, too!
Have you ever watched the show “Say Yes to the Dress” about brides going in to choose their wedding gowns?
Recently, I’ve been watching that show, and of ALL things, I’m surprised that it’s been genuinely encouraging to me.
I thought I’d enjoy watching for the fashion aspect, and because I love celebrating people, but what I wasn’t expecting was that God would encourage me and almost “loosen me up” around my own dreams! He brought an awareness I didn’t realize I’d been blinded to.
And I’m not just talking marriage-related dreams, although I certainly have those! I’m talking ALL the dreams – every area of life! Any dream that hasn’t yet come to pass, but that you’re still longing for. Even the dreams you’ve lost hope in. I’m especially hopeful this will encourage you with those dreams!
What’s really stood out to me, amidst the variety of personalities and styles and themes, is that most of the brides-to-be have either a specific dress in mind, or a certain style of dress that they’re set on.
They know what they want. They know what they’ve been dreaming of. They know what they’ve envisioned for the day. And some of them are exceptionally stubborn about it – unwilling to look at or try on anything that’s not precisely what they were thinking of.
But then…after trying on dress after dress and not finding “the one” they finally relent and allow the expert stylists to bring in some different choices.
And you can see that they were NOT expecting what they’re experiencing. Brought to tears by a gown so beautiful, but so different from what they imagined.
They never would have picked it out themselves. It didn’t catch their attention when they were looking through samples or browsing online. They didn’t even notice it. But once it was ON them, it was like they truly saw themselves for the first time! They saw themselves as a BRIDE, and everything clicked. They got the veil and the whole look came together.
My takeaways from watching this have been just that – we can think up and dream of all sorts of things, but if we’re not also welcoming in wise counsel and experts, we may be pigeon-holing ourselves into something that’s just not the right fit.
It’s not that the dream is bad or that it would damage us.
It’s just that it’s not THE dream that will be the absolute BEST for us!
Very few of the ladies actually leave with the dress they had in mind. And the majority of them leave with something surprisingly different that what they walked in wanting, and they’re THRILLED with it. Overjoyed. In a bit of shock at how much they love it, when they didn’t even know to consider it at first.
If you’re still waiting for your dreams to happen – in ANY area – my encouragement to you is that you WILL get to enjoy your dreams…they just may not look exactly like what you’re currently envisioning. But, that’s only because God has better for you!
“Exceedingly, abundantly beyond anything we can think, ask, or imagine…”
It’s time to “Say YES to the Dream” and let God WOW you with what’s really possible!
