Journey in the ADVENTURE we are at D. I have to admit, I had a hard time writing the blog last week. Sometimes the thoughts and words do not mesh. Do you ever feel that way about things? Sometimes I feel that way about my life. It just doesn’t seem to be meshing. But maybe, just maybe that is part of the adventure. Think about that…it is uncomfortable, just like writing the blog last week was uncomfortable. It took me 10 days! Well here is another thing that can be uncomfortable for me – DREAM. D – DREAM. It’s been a long time since I have really had a dream for my life. Like I said last week, I lived life spontaneous and flying by the seat of my pants. I didn’t really have dreams for myself. What was I going to do after the kids moved out, what about when my husband retired (yes I said retire, he is with me 24/7 and that is another blog for another time), what does it look like to have both of your parents and your siblings on the other side of life and not present? Those things I didn’t take time to think about.

In 2013, I did another spontaneous thing, I went to life coaching school and became certified in life coaching. The last 7 years I have been trying to figure out how to make it a coaching practice, business or was it a ministry? I have been thinking I had a business, but my sweet husband and financial adviser helped me with a reality check that I dabbled more on the hobby side. Hmmm….not what I wanted to hear. I started asking God what does it look like to coach more than as a hobby. In the spirit of keeping with the adventure theme for 2019, He took me on a whirlwind trip to the Philippines. During my time there, I had space to dream. We didn’t have electricity for two of the weeks I was there. I had books on my phone so I would read my kindle, I brought another book and I had the best book my hands will ever touch, The Bible. During that time I read a lot, cuddled my newly born granddaughter, and got to know the women in the area that my son and daughter-in-law call home. I had space to think and pray. God began to open up ideas, I started dreaming again.

For a long time I have pushed down a dream of a coffee shop. I don’t want to own a coffee shop like Starbucks. That had not been the thought but some of the elements started to emerge again about a coffee shop. Then it went to a coffee house. Just Be Free Coaching Coffee House came to mind. I am going to stick my neck out there and be transparent about this dream that started to develop on my adventure trip. It is a start and I am excited to see where God takes this dream. Side bar – keeping with 2020 word LAUGH – when I was pregnant with my first born, my mother-in-law called up and told us, “I had a dream… that the baby is a boy.” My hubs laughed and said, “Mom, Martin Luther King already coined that phrase.” It was our laugh for years to come. I still laugh now and can hear her voice when I think about having a dream, “I had a dream!” So here is the start of my dream.

Whether we want to admit it or not for many reasons – we all long to be loved, belong and be accepted. We all search for purpose, long to matter to someone, to be needed, respected, valued and worth something to those around us. The coaching coffee house exists to be a place of refuge to the weary woman who fears they are invisible and unneeded, who has lost their way or doesn’t know what the heck they are here for or if they even matter.

It is a place where everyone knows your name. (Cheers! laugh laugh cough laugh!) A place where you learn about true love and true purpose from a God who has lavish love for you and wants you to join in His plan and His purpose. It’s a place where you learn to live loved! and to know at the end of the day, all that matters is – knowing that this all knowing and all loving God loves you! You have all you need in Him. He created you, loves you and give you purpose.

I look forward in the ADVENTURE of this dream. Since LAUGH is my 2020 word, I have a feeling there is to be a lot of laughter going on. What are your dreams? How are you living the dreams God has given you? I think about Joseph in the Bible, who was given two dreams. Those dreams came to pass and it was an adventure. I need to remember that this dream can have it’s highs and lows just like Joseph but the most important thing is knowing that God is with me through it all.