(taken from pastor jeff's blog)

We all have dreams; especially those of us who give our lives fully to the Kingdom.

Just like Joseph, our dreams will go through certain cycles. If your dream is from God and for God and if you hang on to it, it will come to pass. But God's primary concern is not so much on the dream as it is on the person who receives the dream (i.e. the dreamer).

I have found this article to be so useful and so true. Rick Warren has done a great job in making this teaching so clear, simple and practical. It has really helped me a great deal. Somehow, I feel in my heart that this would help many of you who may be reading this too. May it add much courage to you as it had done for me.

Since our God is so BIG, dream BIG for Him. Let's really make an impact in our world!

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How God builds you while you are building your ministry
by Rick Warren

Did you know that God uses a very predictable process to build your character? I call this process the "Six Phases of Faith." If you don’t understand this process, you’ll get discouraged when problems arise. You’ll wonder, "Why is this happening to me?" But if you understand and cooperate with what God is doing in your ministry, your faith - like a muscle that is stretched - will develop great strength.

Phase 1: A dream
God gives you a dream – an idea, goal, or ambition. Every great accomplishment first begins as a God-given dream in someone’s mind. "God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of - infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” (Eph. 3:20 LB)

Phase 2: A decision
A dream is worthless until you decide to do something about it. For every 10 dreamers, there’s only one decision-maker. This is the moment of truth where you decide to invest your time, money, energy, and reputation and to let go of security. If you want to walk on water - you must get out of the boat! "You must believe and not doubt … a double-minded man is unstable in all he does.” (James 1:6, 8 GN)

Phase 3: A delay
There is always a time lapse before your dream becomes reality. God uses this waiting period to teach us to trust him. Remember, a delay is not a denial. Maturity is understanding the difference between "no” and "not yet.” God says, “These things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!” (Hab. 2:3 LB)

Phase 4: A difficulty
Now the problems start popping up. The two most common types: critics and circumstances. Don’t worry. It’s all a part of God’s plan. “At the present you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials. This is no accident – it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold.” (1 Peter 1:6-7 Ph)

Phase 5: A dead end!
Your situation will deteriorate from difficult to impossible. You are backed into a corner, you reach the end of your rope; it looks hopeless. Congratulations! You are on the edge of a miracle. Trust God. “At that time we were completely overwhelmed … in fact we told ourselves that this was the end. Yet we now believe we had this sense of impending disaster so that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves but in God who can raise the dead.” (2 Cor. 1:8-9 Ph)

Phase 6: A deliverance
God provides a supernatural answer. Miraculously, things fall into place! God loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections so you can see his greatness. “I expect the Lord to deliver me once again so I will see his goodness to me ….” (Ps. 27:13)

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It's rather amazing to me that pastor jeff decided to write about dreams in life as his latest blog entry.. 'cos it just so happens that i was thinking about my own dreams in life when i was bathing.
I was thinking about acting. I have a passion for acting. Seriously. Though i don't think i'm a particular good actress or something, but the passion has lingered from primary school till now, bringing me through all sorts of plays and watching plays. It's still within me, just that i was thinking about how i don't get the chance to work on my passion.
It's not that i've not tried. i've told my shepherds about my desire to act, i asked chenglee about drama when i was in youth, i asked kangwei about drama last year when i'm in uni grp, i volunteered to help in acting in alpha. somehow or another, nothing seem to surface. to tell the truth, i am disappointed. i guess if you really like to do something, but don't have the chance to do it, you'll be pretty much disappointed as well. haha.
then i was thinking about infocounter. it's not that i don't like infocounter or anything, i'm glad to see how much it's evolved over the past 2 years that i was in it... but it's just that infocounter has never really been one of my passions in life. hahaha. interestingly enough, i think soon i'll have to start planning for the path that infocounter should go. if you'll like to join infocounter, please do!
the thoughts of changing ministry has occurred to me a few times in the past years... but the thought of having to start all over again is disturbing as well. and if i change ministry, i'll have to start training up someone to take over me. and it's not easy at this moment, 'cos the people in mind are usually already pretty caught up with their pastoral ministry. haha.
heh. oh well.
went to meet weiling at cityhall this morning :) then went to school to help zi2wei3 with the cd covers thing. it's really nice! haha. in the words of qiaoping 'very well done'. it was done pretty fast though. haha. then went down with ziwei, lishan, minchen and guoxiong to nexus to help christine (and jessie and huanyan) with the deco stuff. poor things.. lots of things to paint. hahaa. i've got artist jeans at the end of the day! jeans with smatterings and droplets of paints. disastrous. lol. it was enjoyable.. painting and seeing the colours fill up the white board. ziwei is really talented in mixing colours. amazing sister. weiling popped up in the later part of the day. haha. thank God for this sister for coming to help out even when she's asked at the last minute=]
was very tiring at the end of the day. we had dinner at 8+pm? haha. actually i had dinner then. the rest weren't hungry. oh well. by then there were only me, christine, calyn and jessie left. haha.
i was decidedly out of energy by around 12+am. went to doze for a few minutes and woke up again with the decision to want to go to sleep. hahaa. but ended up talking to people on msn and playing a game of DOTA using the character of the prophet. oh well. i became very awake after that. hahaa. but i'm quite exhausted now once again. when the body starts to slow down and the night is quiet and you haven't had enough sleep for a few days... ah.
so adios my dear friends. i'm going to rest and dream about my dreams in life :) night!