Whispered Dreams and Butterfly Wings

"God is not sending you there to clip your wings."

photo taken by Michael and Lindy

The Israelites were God's chosen people. Chosen to receive every good thing you could think of God giving to a person. God. Creator. Able to do anything. Chose them.

They went through a season where nothing looked good. There was no green in sight. The thing they thought they were delivered out of now surrounded them. it was all they could see. 

I wonder how many dreams were dreamt in that season. How hard must it have been to know that you were promised an abundant life. You were taken out of a horrible situation. You saw miracles. So you KNEW this was the right direction. But somewhere along the way this direction stopped looking like the right one. You think, surely it must be, I saw the very clear hand of God. But here I walk.

 I don't know why this happens but I'm sure at some point we've all been in the desert. 

The dreams we dreamt when we took the first steps out now seem like foolishness. Or if not foolish then just long lost.

hold on to them. God is not putting you through this situation to beat you up. In fact He is not "putting" you through anything. He is going through it with you. 

Who guided the Israelites through the desert? Who made sure their clothes never wore out or their sandals never broke?

He will constantly clothe you, He will never cease providing you with exactly what you need to keep walking.

I can't say I'm going through a desert season right now. I'm surrounded by family. I'm blessed with friends and a job. The desert is not where I'm at. But I have been there.

Right now, I'm in a place where all of my dreams are planted deep inside the soil and I'm left to wonder if they are still there. 

In this way, I relate to the Israelites and anyone who feels like the desert place is their home.

It would be easy to think that in this season, where things aren't making sense, that the wings of all my whispered dreams are being slowly covered by the dirt. torn off by the elements. But as surely as this season will not last forever, my dreams will be given wings.

The dreams I pushed myself to dream and the ones that came as easily as walking (developing and making more sense as I got older.)  All of them seem to be on the back burner.

What is a whispered dream? it's a dream from deep inside. One you want so badly it almost feels wrong saying it out loud. A whispered dream is not a secret. A whispered dream is one that rumbles in your soul when you think about it. 

So I walk in faith. Such a cliche line. Let's try it a different way. 

I don't know what's happening to my little wings that feel non-existent. I don't know what will become of them. But I rest in the fact that the Israelites reached their promised land. That broken wings can be mended. That even mighty oaks are invisible for a season. I rest in this. 

A dream is a wish your heart makes… whether you're fast asleep or wide awake. (little secret, the best ones are when you're wide awake!)

So dream. And if you've already dreamt, well, hold on. Because nothing is so far burried, so badly broken, so deeply wounded that God cannot fix it or bring it out of the ground.

So if it feels like you've been sent to the desert to have your wings clipped, it's not true. And if you've been wounded in the process of pursuing your dreams. Don't lose hope.

Lindy and Micheal found the wounded butterfly and made a new wing for it out of an expired black swallowtail and put it on with adhesive. The white powder is so it didn't stick to anything before it dried.