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I write about what matters...to you---
women, wives and moms---
about your family, faith and future.
I write about what's hard, what helps and what heals.
I show you how it's done. And not done.
I hold your hand as you find what matters to the Savior.
And let go of those things that mattered to you, but not to Him.
I write about what matters...to Him.
               Sonya Contreras

Did Your Dream Die?
Did you have a passion for something? It was a good thing. It anchored you. All your energy focused toward that goal.
But now, that dream is no more reachable than walking on a cloud.

The Dream Promised

Abraham had a dream. In fact, God gave him that dream. He would become a great nation. He told Abraham to count the stars, if he could. That would be the number of his offspring.
His name was even changed from Abram to Abraham—father of many.

But did he get his dream?
Abraham knew today. And there was no baby coming today, nor anytime soon, especially with him being almost 100.
But he believed God.
During this time, Abraham became know as the Friend of God.
Know what it takes to be God’s Friend? He wanted to please God. He left his own town and family and followed God.

The Death of a Dream
Many days went by. And Abraham did what he was suppose to do for the day, but no baby came.
In fact, twenty years went by. (Twenty years is a loooong time.)
Doubts and questions came.
God was silent. He didn’t send any more dreams.
What would you do if your dream didn’t come for twenty years?

What did Abraham do?
He couldn’t give up on the dream. 
He’d look at the stars and remind God what He had promised.
But with every day, every year, every century, the dream slipped through his fingers, as if it were a cloud without rain.
The stars couldn’t have shone any brighter, but Abraham’s child was not coming.

Substitute for the Dream
Sarah wasn’t having a baby. She was past her prime.
Sarah suggested, “There’s no way you and I are having this baby. God meant this—" and offered her servant. 
Abraham was desperate. Maybe God did mean for his offspring to come through the servant.
So Abraham…substituted for the Dream

By not waiting God’s time, Abraham got a child. But it wasn’t the child God had promised.
By pushing, reasoning, and controlling, Abraham manipulated the circumstances to make the dream come true.
And he got a son—Ishmael, from Sarah’s servant Hagar.

Dream Fulfilled
But God hadn’t forgotten His promise. He knew the dream. And Ishmael wasn’t the answer.
God gave Abraham a son in his old age and made him a great nation. 
It was a miracle sent by God for the world to see Him.
But because Abraham had tried to make it happen on his own, the dream wasn’t as good as it could have been.
There was conflict between the two sons. Abraham had to send Ishmael away.

Are you struggling with a dream? Are you at a stand still in life?
Has your dream died? Even though you thought God had directed you toward that?
Do not despair.
God may be silent. But He has not forgotten what He promised.
Do not push to make your dream come true.
Wait.
Become the friend of God.
Seek Him. 
He will show you what you must do today.
Be faithful in the little things.
Hang onto Him.
And in God’s time, He will make your dreams come true.
By doing it God’s way, in God’s time, it will be a miracle that will point others, not to your accomplishments, but to Him. 
Which is where all dreams should lead—to Him.


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Faith
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Or here:
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Author of Biblical fiction, married to my best friend, and challenged by eight sons’ growing pains as I write about what matters.

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