"Do you want the best and most wonderful gifts that God has given youspent on your own self? Or do you want them to be set free to come into their own as you link your profoundest abilities with your neighbor's need and the glory of God?"
- Os Guinness, The Call

What are the passions that lie within your heart? Do you have a compelling vision of what you would like to do with your life if you followed those passions? Sometimes we "see" a need with the eyes of our heart and it opens a new landscape before us. We think of doing things we have never thought about before. A dream lodges deep within us and won't go away. It is easy to ignore that dream or fear it, because of doubt or lack of faith.

I would encourage you to pay attention to your dream. You need to recognize it and "lift it up" so it can draw you to the place that God may be calling you. Such strong desires have been planted within you for a reason! God is in the dream-business: He gives us dreams and then fulfills those dreams in our lives by helping us to realize His purpose for each of us.

A Dream's Journey
Penny Pressley Ferreira is someone who early on recognized the desires she had for her life, (and probably innately God's purposes) and today is still pursuing those desires! Penny, now in her forties, is a singer, writer, and producer. She has some very wise thoughts about the challenges and necessities of following a passion or a dream.

Ever since third grade, I knew I wanted to sing and be a part of having music change lives. After doing an independent project in my late 20's, and getting air play nationwide on the radio for two songs over five minutes apiece, I thought my childhood dream of a recording contract in Nashville would naturally follow. I spent a couple of years networking and the reality soon hit when I met a person who developed Amy Grant. I learned that at age 32 I was too old to be considered "commercial", even in the Christian field.

I knew God had planted the desire for music so deeply in my soul that I shifted perspective and decided to learn the music publishing business in hopes of getting great music to the public. I was no longer going to be a singer, but a publisher.

Randy Hauser, who had done my original artist development packet, agreed to mentor me. My husband, John, along with eight other couples, brought the money to the table to hire a songwriter named Thornton Cline whom Randy wanted to work with. Thornton would write songs, and Randy would teach me to demo and market the songs to major artists and record labels. The day after we called Randy to tell him the papers and contract for our partnership were ready to sign, he died of a diabetic related heart attack. I met Thornton Cline at Randy's graveside.

By God's grace the investors stayed in and Thornton taught me the music business while we taught him the corporate business for the next seven years. I thought God's plan was to have a top twenty hit with Thornton songs, but it turned out Randy was the first of 48 deaths that I would experience in the coming eight years.

A Purpose Emerges
God's real purpose soon became clear: I was supposed to produce a hardback book, Your Love Remains, http://www.yourloveremains.com, with two CD's consisting of twenty five songs to help people in their grieving process. The book itself would be beautifully illustrated with tribute blessings from the writers about who inspired each song presented. Lyrics and journal pages would also be included. I am happy to say this project has been completed!

Who would have thought that my dream of music making a difference would come through the subject of death and dying? Now God is challenging me to go from passion to responsibility, especially in areas of business that I don't feel comfortable in. I have to educate myself in order to get this "grief tool" to the people who need it the most.

A passion and a dream have many layers. Just when you get one level of accomplishment and joy, God asks you to go deeper. My hope is that people realize if you're willing to go deeper and take on more responsibility as your passion develops, you will understand this is the only way that God will be able to use you more. The bottom line is I thought I was following the music passion that God planted, but He was actually using the journey to help me become the person He wants me to be. I'm not there yet, but I'm learning to enjoy every minute of the process! I'm also grateful that the book and music is changing one life at a time.

You think your passion is about "you" because God gave it to you to carry. Then with time you start to realize that the passion planted is about servicing the needs of other. It is in those moments that God takes your dream and makes it live!

Right now I feel like saying "Wow"! I love the insights and thoughts that Penny shared-- about going deeper, about taking on responsibility, about becoming the person God calls us all to be. And her final reminder: our dreams and desires are given to us to serve others, and it is in serving others that they come into full bloom.

I wish you the blossoming of your heart's desires as you follow your dream. Many are waiting

Happy dream journey,

Judy Peterson

Copyright 2006 - Judy Peterson. All Rights Reserved.