I Dreamed a Dream

I wanted to share something that someone sent me to watch early this morning - a phenomenal video of Susan Boyle auditioning

for "Britain's Got Talent." This video has gone viral and it is well worth watching. The link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY. I'm mentioning it here because I see a poignant link with how things seem to be going in life. Sometimes things are simply not as they appear. Susan Boyle looks like an awkward homely unemployed woman. When she walked on stage everyone was laughing at her. But when she opened her mouth and sang, everyone was stunned. She brought the laughing crowd to their feet in awe.

But she did not just sing with a phenomenal voice. She sang a song that told her own story, and the story of so many:
"I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine un-tasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dreams to shame...

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed

Many live carrying dead dreams like a stillborn child. I've felt like that at times. I'm a dreamer to say the least. When I came to Christ about 21 years ago I believed all that He said and obeyed all that I learned because I didn't know any better. I was young and naive and hadn't "learned" that there are parts of the Bible that we Christians learn to ignore or explain away. I continued dreaming for many years, in reckless abandoned obedience. Then I got cautious. Then I got hurt. Then I played with sin. Then I lost some of that holy fire. And I longed to have it back. I secretly longed for that dream that had died somewhere along the way. And I prayed that God would resurrect it.

Then He led me into my own personal little hell. And somehow in the midst of that furnace, my dreams are being reborn.

Some are afraid for us. Some fear that we'll find ourselves singing our own version of "I Dreamed a Dream" when our dream will have died a painful death. But I don't think so. I think that our God is very good at bringing dead things to life. I think that our God comes out at night, when the tigers come out, to shine His light in the darkness and to chase the tigers away.

In thinking of all of this, I found this scripture:

1 Peter 5:8-11 8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. 10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. 11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

As it seems in my life right now, I see so many dreams that being shattered by cancer. It hurts me and is eating me alive to think about these children, and all the hopes and dreams they have and how "life has killed the dream". I am also attaching a link to a video of so many of the faces I have come to know and love that are fighting for their dream......

www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=84cdf120527c3978e79fe8&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Are you dreaming your dream??????