Following our dreams can be a lot like Alice following the White Rabbit into the tumbling tunnel that landed her in Wonderland. Think of it — dreams and nightmares — ever notice how closely the two are tied together? Even in our sleep, dreams dancing before our eyes can easily take a hideous twist. Life’s dreams can seem to do that too. Chasing after our dreams means the possibility they might not turn out or they will surely take us someplace unknown and even dangerous. Dangerous to our heart, at least.

Dreams thrill and fulfill us. But in following them there is the possibility of loss. We might lose money or end up jobless. We might be carried far from friends and home. We might endure criticism (actually, I’m certain we will). But that’s what happens when we chase after the vision God has planted in us — an ideal, a passion — and it stretches us beyond ordinary limits.

I’m a writer. I’ve been a writer since I was ten years old. Some people back then didn’t believe it. (Can you imagine?) I hoped to be a published novelist by age 24. I even dreamed of being an award winning journalist. Hmm… I’m 50, and while I’ve been writing pretty much all along, some of my biggest achievements, like publishing a novel, only happened a few years ago. If I had known it would be so tough, would I have pursued this dream for nearly 40 years?

Um… Yeah, I think I would have, because God didn’t take the dream away.  I think I did know it would be tough. I was aware that upsets and interruptions would come. They have to. After all, who wants to miss out marrying their high school sweetheart and raising five kids and homeschooling and farming and buying and selling and going on escapades…

Life is full, but adventures await us. The dreams cling and we pursue them if we don’t let fear stop us.

However, if we agree to follow the path down which our dream will take us there is one thing we can surely expect: the really hard, though always inspiring life-lessons that come in the process. While we follow our dreams, God uses the journey to teach us awesome things about His Divine Nature. Sometimes the revelations split our hearts wide open so He can pour them full of His love. Other times, our hearts yield less easily because the lesson is painful. It can be that our hearts are chapped, cracked, dry, and He needs to massage them until they are soft again, and willing to open to His trust-worthy hands. Sometimes He squeezes and it hurts. But in the end, we learn things about ourselves, about the people in our lives, about the process of developing our dreams as He etches them on our hearts. We learn about the greatness of His love.

What holds you back from chasing your passion? Do you fear failure, rejection, and hardship? Or do you dread facing inability and attack?

Give your fears and dreams to God. If He planted a desire in you for something that just won’t go away, step across the line and take a closer look. See if it doesn’t grow. See if it doesn’t grow you. Following your dreams will almost never be easy, and you won’t be guaranteed absolute success. But it will keep you from wishing you’d tried. It will keep you from forever being stunted by what “might have been” had you only cast your fear aside.

 Naomi and her husband Jeff enjoy the splendor of Wisconsin’s north woods along with their five young adults who live nearby or at home. She writes both historical and contemporary women’s fiction in which her aim is to surprise and entertain readers by telling stories of imperfect people who are finding faith and hope to overcome their struggles. Her most recent novel, The Black Rose, concludes her three-book Empire in Pine historical series. Naomi also served as a staff writer for the Christian newspaper LivingStonesNews for five years and has published numerous magazine articles for the encouragement of the homeschool community. She’d love to greet you online at:

Her Website:http://www.naomimusch.com 

Blog: Write Reason

Facebook: Naomi Musch – Author

Twitter: NMusch

With other writers at A Novel Writing Site and The Barn Door