Genesis 37:10 When he told it to his father and brothers, his father reprimanded him: “What’s with all this dreaming? Am I and your mother and your brothers all supposed to bow down to you?”

Joseph was a dreamer. He dreamed that he and his brothers were gathering sheaves of wheat. Suddenly, his sheaf stood upright, his brothers’ sheaves gathered around him and then bowed before his sheaf. His brothers were not amused by their youngest brother’s dream in which they were kneeling before him.

Sometime later, he returned to his brothers and told them of another dream in which the sun, the moon and 11 stars, which of course referred to his brothers, again bowed to him. His brothers were so angry that their father rebuked him and told him to tend the sheep instead.

We know that the dreams came true after his brothers sold him to a trader, who in turn sold him to Potiphar, a man in Pharaoh’s inner circle. In the end, it was his brothers who came and bowed before him when the devastating drought forced them to go to Egypt.

Are you still dreaming? Do you still dream of really making a difference in God’s world? Or has life beaten you down so much that even your dreams no longer see the light of day? Maybe people close to you tell you that you’re confused and that you should tend sheep instead.

When I was very little, I dreamed – probably actually more wishing – that I would be able to write one day. I even wondered if I would be able to publish a book. I imagined the piles of books that I would sell.

With much grace from Above, it’s finally true. I’ve often wondered if my mistakes made me ‘unusable,’ but He didn’t let my stumbles get in the way of His plan. He saw a path forward and brought this dream to life.

Sometimes, we simply need to be still and wonder. In that quiet, we give God the space to reveal a glimpse of His vision for us, a small piece of a much larger picture, giving us the inspiration we need to keep striving. When you dream your dreams with God and don’t let people or circumstances silence them, He can even work through hurt, rejection, and waiting to make them come true in His time.

Prayer
Father, teach me how to dream again. Help me to dream with You, aligning my heart with the vision You have for my life…

Questions
What dreams have I given up on because people laughed at or criticised them?
Am I still dreaming with God, or am I just trying to survive?
Do I believe that God can even use waiting, rejection, and pain to shape His plan for me?

Do this now
Take a few minutes today to pause and ask God what dream He wants to grow in your heart.
Write down one dream that you have abandoned long ago and bring it before God again in prayer.
Tell someone you trust about that dream and ask them to pray with you about it.