Resurrecting your Dreams

“I’ve come so you’ll have life and life in abundance” John 10:10

This is week; we celebrate the most important week for those who follow the Christian faith. It will culminate next Sunday as we celebrate the Resurrection.

I have been thinking about the importance of understanding that Christ died to give us abundant life. For people like us, who suffer chronic conditions, this concept is hard to grasp, as we need to deal with our conditions and go through life either with limited resources or few opportunities to live plenty. We let ourselves go, and for those of us who believe in the concept, it does not pertain to our current condition, but to something only attainable at the end of our journey; a promise to be fulfilled.

However, the word of God gives us all certainty that our abundant life can start here and now. We can have a plenty and abundant life, here and now with Him and through Him.

Healthy or not, we have found ourselves thinking, well, if had the right amount of money, or if I had the means or the health needed, I would accomplish this or that. In my opinion, the first step towards accomplishing what is expected of us is to start a personal relationship with God. He will open our eyes to the beautiful, fulfilling things that require not money, means, and lots of time and will allow us to experience what it is to be healthy, even with a condition.

As a patient of a Chronic Condition, I remember clearly as I was diagnosed, on a month of April some years ago. My initial reaction was to put aside my dreams and expectations. The diagnosis occupied the whole frame of my mind. I gave a lot of thought to the things I could no longer do. I allowed it to take over. Eventually I understood that I was being selfish, in a certain sense, closing myself to experiences that yet awaited for me, shutting door to the people who loved and cared for me.

I learned to make it through, with God’s grace and now, looking backwards, it is all but a collection of bitter sweet memories. There were dark moments, but there were also breakthroughs.

I will always cherish the moment in which I realized, time was being wasted and that I needed to reestablish contact with family and friends that I needed to allow me to dream and believe in possibilities once more. I started reaching out to people I haven’t seen in a while, visiting those little restaurants I loved, planning trips, going back to that goal of having a family of my own, looking at my new diet restrictions in a positive light- you know there is always a chance to lose a couple of pounds J.

Start setting goals, big and small; Happiness is not as elusive as it seems to be. Sure, no one is promised a perfect life, but with God as our guide, there’s a chance things will be better. Dream big, act swiftly, when your mind is set on an attainable goal, even the pain seems lessened.

On this week in which we celebrate a risen Lord, unpack your long forgotten dreams, and make them spring back to life.