Good morning…
Shared in a recent blog post, many of you love this Goodwill photo I decided to hang upside down on our wall. Symbolically, I thought I had emptied out every dream from this photo – dreams for the hungry children we have met on mission trips over the years, dreams for our four kids, our kids’ kids, our kids’ kids’ kids, and dreams sprouting in my heart for the healing of all of us-children, young and old, planted by God across our globe.
Surprisingly, I recently felt another dream dump out of this photo hanging upside down in our home.
The first blurry photo above I took from the window of the upper attic room where I hangout at PAWkids in Grove Park on Tuesdays. This weirdly out of focus photo reminds me of the hazy image hanging upside down in our home. Colorful. Muted. Lacking clarity.
Inspired by the dream of my late friend Julie Harlan, (see Julie’s Dream) I love getting to know the women, men, and children in the PAWkids community. We spend time listening, learning, laughing together, week after week. Sharing our stories of struggle and resilience, a new vision of God’s abundant nourishment comes into clearer view.
As the Women’s Ministry Director at Northside Church, an affluent, generous church twelve minutes up the road in Buckhead, I am excited about the vibrant friendship God has quickly grown for me and LaTonya Gates, the founder and director of PAWkids. Tonight is the first time LaTonya and I are gathering a small handful of women from a few local churches in our neighborhoods to host a Ladies Night Out. I love watching God organically expand our circle of fun, faithful female friends. Being respectful of our uniquenesses, I am following LaTonya’s lead, pace, and vision as we seek to follow the lead, pace, and vision of the healing Spirit of God. I trust that this evening together is just the beginning of many more bonding opportunities the Spirit will orchestrate.
What other dreams might God have hidden in this upside down photo? Expectantly, I trust that only our LORD God knows.
I will bless you with a future filled with hope—a future of success, not of suffering. You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers. You will worship me with all your heart, and I will be with you (Jeremiah 29:11-13, CEV).
As together we turn back to the LORD, asking for help and surrendering our whole heart, God will be with us and our prayers will be answered. Our entire community will be blessed with a future filled with hope – success, not suffering – this is God’s blurry vision coming into clearer view.
…Sue…
P.S. If you are interested in being added to our growing list of people wanting to join us in God’s expanded vision of community, please touch on the “Note to Sue” button below and share with me your interest.
