About the Author

Holley Gerth is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, counselor, and life coach. Her newest release is The Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You. She's also wife to Mark, Mom to Lovelle, and Nana to Eula and Clem.

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
Find more at DaySpring.com
(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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Comments

  1. I’m struggling with carving out dreaming time instead of just futively fighting through each day. Thanks for sharing.

  2. Holley, your post resonates with me so strongly. When I read about today’s topic and decided to put my thoughts in writing to link-up, some of the same thoughts you shared were bouncing around in my brain.
    You articulated this so well. My favorite part is the hope you shared, “Because God is a dreamer. And even if we stop dreaming for ourselves, He never stops dreaming for us…”
    Thank you!
    Paula

  3. My God sized dream is already in progress. My precious nephew had to be removed from his home at a young age. His mother is native american and tribes have control over their children beyond the state’s authority. Because I am his father’s sister, and am not native american, we had been told that it was impossible to receive custody of my nephew. Tribes do not let go of their children. We waited and prayed for several years. Sadly during this time he was placed in multiple abusive foster homes. Last year we begged and pleaded with the tribal court – contacting them at least weekly for almost a year, until the Lord’s tioming prevailed. Our “nephew” – our son – is now home with us and our other 3 children. We have had him for 6 months now and are in the final stages of being declared his legal guardians. We were told by courts, by the tribe, by family, by the state, by lawyers – it would be impossible. But God is the Master of all things impossible! My family and I praise Him and are glad to be His children!

  4. Awesome post!!
    I feel so much the same fears as you wrote of this in this post. Not fluff at all. Appreciate the honesty you shared. I really enjoy this site it SO INCOURAGES ME.

  5. My dream is to know the difference between being content and being apprehensive. Am I truly content in various circumstances in my life or just fearful to branch out from what I know? I pray that God will help me realize which one of these feelings is the truth….Thanks for your post which is providing me the opportunity to reflect….

  6. Oh Holley-girl!
    You do have a way of sneaking up on me with your beautiful words and crystal insights. Thank you for this post and for reminding me that “God is a dreamer. And even if we stop dreaming for ourselves, He never stops dreaming for us…” Praying for you and your dreams to come true in Him this year!!

  7. Wow. This has definitely taken a seat at blog post for 2010 for me, Holley. Thank you for the gift of this encouragement on Day One for the new year. I’m going into my whitespace week for the year and taking this post with me. It tugged at those bricks… and some are lodged in pretty hard. I choked up reading, too. It’s a beautifully written post, with God’s fingerprints, imposed on top of yours.

  8. I love this post. I’ve had dreams for a while now, but I’ve been too this, too that, to really do anything about them.
    “I’m discovering that with God the hardest part is not making the dream a reality…it’s keeping my heart open enough to let it happen.” This sentence is the one that resonated with me. I learned a couple of months ago that I had shut my heart just far enough that I couldn’t do anything about my dream. Now, I’m ready to take the plunge and see what happens.

  9. Holly thank you for your gift of encouragement,
    my biggest dream for this year is to see the manifestation of Gods deliverance/healing whatever He knows is for my grandson Jeremy he’s been diagnose with schizophernic 12 years ago…I keep on standing on His Word for a miracle in his life…also for another grandson Josh for deliverance from addictions.
    I will keep on believing & hopeing that I will see the trivail of my heart this year.

  10. My God-sized dream is that He sees it fit that this is the year I become a mom. And the year my amazing husband becomes a dad.
    Praying for all of your God-sized dreams as well this year!!

  11. Holley,
    I absolutely LOVE taking about our God sized Dreams, and I love that you were completely transparent and honest with us.
    Thank you for that!
    It is scary to have God sized Dreams, but He is a great BIG God and He will lead us where He wants us to go!
    Besides…I always tell my friends, “Dream BIG, God does!”
    xoxo,
    Melissa in Mel’s World

  12. I love this post, because it’s where I am, too. Only for me, it feels too late to dream. I feel old (retirement age) and afraid, and the next ten years are going to be years of loss and pain. It’s all I see when I look into the future. I’m losing hope – not in the way that most people mean when they use that phrase; I’m losing the ability to see beyond the suffering that is an inevitable part of this season of life.

  13. Holley,
    Thank you for your post. My heart couldn’t have read anything better today. Dreaming does become so hard when “life gets you” as an adult..but your words are refreshing…they helped me feel not so alone today..and to remember God is here giving us His sweet help.
    Happy New Year to my favorite blogger!
    Ashley

  14. My God-sized dream is to rely on Him more and me less. This seems so simple but I tend to over complicate everything…

  15. I have just recently found this site Holley and since then, I haven’t found another one that moves my heart like your writings. Your writings grab my heart and the words just come right off the pages and into my heart. So, thank you for being so earnest about the things of God and expressing that love so others can be blessed. I am so glad I found this “spot” to get some daily encouragement.
    I would also like to say to Catherine…it’s never, never too late to dream. I understand how you feel because I am in a similar place. In the past 6 years, each of those years were filled with much loss. Was it painful? Oh yes, but with it comes great grace from God Almighty and the undergirding of being under the shadow of His wings in the midst of it all. No matter what Catherine, take His hand, walk this journey WITH Him and you will see great dreams fulfilled in your life!

  16. I do understand Holley. I tried to dream, or just to revive the dreams, as I read through this – but I felt myself running into that brick wall you spoke about. It is the looking back that destroys the dreams – the failures, the mistakes, the deliberate, willful sin. Perhaps it is age too – too old for dreaming dreams?
    But the Lord has been whispering something into my spirit that stirs up joy – “Behold, I am doing something new. Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” (Is. 43)
    I am looking for the dream.

  17. Holley what you wrote about really spoke to my heart….I want to be a dreamer this year and spend more time daily with the one who already dreams for me and loves me unconditionally!! Praying for you….and please pray for me that I will be faithful in spending time with the Lord everyday and growing in a closer relationship with Him.

  18. In one way, I’m living my dream–I am staying home for my kids, and keeping house, taking care of my family. But the family isn’t happy, I keep falling into the depths of despair, and continue to ask the Lord why he’s allowing my husband to be sucked down into his anxiety, his up and down world, without a fight.
    I still dream. I dream about having simple, family together time–movie nights, game nights, going to church together. I dream of having a farm where the things I grow can be given to the needy as well as making a living for our family. I still dream of singing–it’s right up there with my “homemaker” dream. I dream of starting a women’s conference, wanting women in our area to feel and know the grace of God. I dream lots. But God obviously has other plans, or he’s waiting for the right time. I’ve always heard that God gives us dreams. Maybe so. I’ll just sit and wait a while longer on him.

  19. As usual, LOVE this post! I just wish I knew what God’s dreams are for me. I feel like I am just existing. I wish we could meet for coffee and talk!
    Love you Holley!
    Amy

  20. I knew your voice in this post immediately, way before I saw your photo at the bottom. Thank you for being a dreamer and for reminding us to do the same.

  21. Dear Holley,
    We want you to know that we are praying as well for your dream to come true.
    We know what we dream about, but never really spoke the words… nor did we ever write them… but perhaps here – we can give it a try…
    We both dream for a cure for cancer and also to reverse severe autism and mental retardation… if not forever, then some
    sort of glimpse of time…
    OK – so now that it is written, the sky didn’t fall down… I have lost hope for the dream to come true, but I haven’t quite lost he dream…
    All our love to you and your dream!!!!

  22. My God-sized dream is finishing my Masters in Counseling this May! He’s been guiding me each step of the way and I’m “living the dream” with Him each step of the way! Thank you for your encouraging words, it has been a great comfort and encouragement to me as I’ve walked in your shadows these past few months.

  23. I came to this post via another blog called “Curiosity Quotient” and I’m very happy to find it. I’m very much in tune and in agreement with your words as I have just embarked on a God-sized journey myself: to get all of us back to being “real” friends – real girlfriends who meet and go out and get together to talk and have tea or whatever else. I think technology is a wonderful thing and it has indeed caused us to become a global community. Yet, despite all of this, depression and alienation seem to be abounding. We need to get together again and that’s why I recently created my own site, Sister Village, which I hope will catch on one person at a time. A God-sized, very idealistic dream but, like you said, nothing is impossible with God. Also, like you said, regret is a terrible thing; so how can I not at least try?
    http://www.sistervillage.org/

  24. I was just reading a chapter on the importance of having dreams in the book Five-Star Families by Carol Kuykendall today.
    It really made me think about the dreams I have for my life, my kids’ lives, and for my family. Thanks for the encouragement to keep dreaming and the reminder that God makes all things possible.

  25. Hi Holley, no blog so I’ll share here. My GOD-sized dreams are two fold. I’ll be 50 in 2012 and I want to accomplish two big things by then: a degree and get into shape enough to run a marathon. These two things have been unfolding in my mind over the past two years and God has said to me that now is the time to follow these dreams, He is with me in them. May be small things in the grand scheme of the world but in my world of serving Him they are huge.

  26. I want to be all that HE wants me to be….its not about ME!
    Once again I am going to lay ME down . I am doing what HE has called me to do and I am going to try my best to let Him lead me and not complain when things dont go MY way! Homeschooling and raising a family is no easy task but He has called me to do it and He will lead me through it.

  27. The song ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ made famous by Susan Boyle, ends with the words “Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.” Like the seed that fell on good soul and flourished until the cares of this world took over and choked the plants, that kind of regret is so typical of a life without Jesus Christ! Whatever dream I dream in His will can only be victorious! Lord help me to never take my eyes off You.

  28. Dear Holley, Count me in!
    I just discovered your (in)courage site and your God Sized Dream plan today and haven’t been able to read much.
    It might be too late for me but I want to try to do as much as I can with whatever time I have left of your 21 days.
    I am really, really scared, but I want to have the courage to pick up my pen and try to write with Him.
    One thing I hope to get out of The Rest of Your Story series is…The courage to write The Story of My Life in order to help and bless others that had lived or might be experiencing situations similar to the ones I have lived.
    In 2009 I felt I lost all my Hope and all my Faith.
    My God Sized Dream right now is to be able to get back my Hope, get back my Faith and be completely Restored, so that God can use me to bless and help those hurting.