Pursuing Your Dream

April 2 2018, it was Easter Monday and we were driving from Creston back to Abbotsford, British Columbia. While listening to an audio book along that drive, something awakened inside of us. A dream turned reality can be traced back to a seed planted that day. We didn’t know it at the time, but in 82 days our lives would look very different. 

Maybe you have heard of Chip and Joanna Gaines. Lee and I have never met them, but their book The Magnolia Story impacted our lives in a significant way. In it, the HGTV stars share their journey together, including all the ups and downs leading up to their hit TV show The Fixer Upper. The thing that really resonated with us was Chip and Joanna’s desire to work together. This has been a strong desire of mine and Lee’s for many years, but for whatever reason we talked more about that dream than actually pursuing it. 

Inspired by the story of a couple who took risks and trusted God I thought “why can’t we do that?” Instead of feeling sorry for myself, that I don’t have what they have, something stirred in me to say, “why can’t we have that?” If God will do it for them, why not for us? It was the beginning of a new prayer focus in our lives. It was in that moment I realized instead of pursuing the dreams our hearts, we were treating them more like wishes. Taking no action to make them happen, not even praying into them, we were just wishing they’d magically come true.

We like to talk about our dreams of working together, what would that look like, and how we could pursue them. Having recently read The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson (a brilliant book on prayer) we knew we needed to start by taking our dreams seriously; beginning to circle them in prayer. Circling them until they happen.

Before arriving back home to Abbotsford we determined one of our dreams was to live in an RV. To be able to travel and work together. Here is the crazy thing, even though this (traveling) was a long-time dream of ours we had never actually stepped foot in an RV let alone visited a dealership. We didn’t know anything about them. We had not pursued this dream in any fashion. It remained an impossible idea. I am beginning to learn that dreams are meant to be pursued. 

“If you don’t get out of the boat, you’ll never walk on water.”

Mark Batterson 

We started to pray daily, circling this dream. We matched those prayers with action. On our 9 year wedding anniversary we found ourselves at our first RV dealership. We began to learn what we liked and didn’t like. We had no money to buy an RV. We weren’t sure what “working together” looked like once we moved into the RV or how much money we would make doing so. We were just pursuing a dream. One step at a time. 

82 days after we prayed our first prayer we were about to pick up our Winnebago Travato. In a big, scary, and exciting step of faith Lee gave notice at his job; we told our landlord’s we were moving out; and we sold more than half of what we owned. There were points along the way where we didn’t think it would happen such as when financing fell through.

It’s a vulnerable place to step out and follow a dream. Wondering if God is really in it when things don’t work out the way I think they should. But in less than 3 months the unexpected happened because we decided to pursue a dream. “If you don’t get out of the boat, you’ll never walk on water.” – Mark Batterson

We are not sure how things will unfold, but we are sure of one thing, God is for us! Just as we learned to trust Him in the first step, in the midst of unknowns we will continue to trust and see where He takes us, one step at a time. 

Are their dreams in your life that God is reminding you of? How can you begin to pursue those dreams? Are there seeds being planted in your life to cause you to grow into theses dreams? Pay attention to the nudging of the Holy Spirit. How does he want to partner with you in these dreams? 

Keep following to see where our van adventures take us.