Hi, my friends, welcome to Launch Your Big Dream four-week course.
I'm Jennifer Miller, and I am so excited to journey with you as we clarify our God dreams
and learn to courageously take action.
Okay, so I just kind of hinted at these points here, but week one, we are going to clarify
our dream.
Week two, we're going to conquer limitations.
And week three, we're going to choose the strategic path.
And then week four, we're going to courageously take action.
So let's jump into week one to clarify your dream.
Jeremiah 2911 says, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper
you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
This is one of my life verses.
I love Jeremiah 2911.
And what's interesting about this verse is Jesus gave it to the Israelites at a time
of captivity.
It wasn't an easy journey for them in that current season of life, and He was giving
them hope.
And that's so often what our dreams do.
They make us hope in God, hope in a bright future, hope that no matter the difficulty
that we are in, that God hasn't forgotten us and that He has plans for us.
Okay, so the points for this week are to create that you were created to dream big, how to
dream big with God, and to visualize your bright future.
And then we're going to jump into some exercises.
So created to dream big, Lou Engle says, when God created you, He created a dream and then
wrapped a body around it.
I mean, that is profound.
You know, God is a dreamer.
He dreamed up this entire world and us.
He made us in His image.
He wanted family and He chose you and me to be a part of it.
That's absolutely amazing.
And so, you know, again, the reasons why like we are created to dream, well, I said it like
God has plans and a bright future for us.
He wants to align us with those kingdom plans on earth, and He chooses us.
And then dreams increase our faith.
I mean, I don't know about you, but anytime I go on a journey of dreaming big with God,
and actually take action, it's like being on a roller coaster with ups and downs and
sometimes in the dark, you know, there are delays, there are difficulties, there's tremendous
like wow God moments.
And you get to the end, like at a roller coaster, and you're like, oh, like that was a little
scary, but I want to do it again.
And so God just desires a relationship with you.
And so often it's the dreams that He gives us that increase that intimacy and relationship
and increase our faith.
But dreams also define our character.
You know, they refine all those things in us like our ego and pride and maybe doubt
and things that can sometimes get in the way.
And you look at all the characters of the Bible, you know, Moses and David and, you
know, Joseph, you know, key ones there where the God gave them a dream or a purpose.
And then there was a process.
And so too, we go through a process because God wants our character to be able to handle
the dream.
He doesn't want us to be crushed by this thing that He gives us.
And then dreams are a vehicle for blessings, blessings financially, but also blessings
of new relationships, blessings because we get to find fulfillment in using our purposes
and giftings and strengths.
And they're a blessing to our future generations and our children's children.
And so dreams are just awesome.
And they're more than just us.
Dreams also inspire others to take action and to pursue their dreams.
I mean, look at all the people out there doing amazing things and they motivate you and inspire
you to go after your dreams, but your dreams inspire others.
You know, there's so often where I meet someone and they're like, oh, I'm inspired like that
you're doing this or that's amazing or like I should pursue my dream too.
And I always say, yeah, you're right, you should.
You know, we are like this domino effect for other people to take action.
So going back to the idea of created to dream, you know, I love this picture, you know, of
this little girl reaching for the stars.
You know, we are children, you know, in God's family.
And when we reach big, when we extend to something beyond ourselves, we can't help but encounter
the heart of God.
We can't help but encounter His goodness and His love and His Father heart.
And so as we, you know, anchor our heart in God, you know, He is faithful to give us the
dreams that are in alignment with His will for our life and His word.
And they'll never contradict that.
You know, I love the fact that we have the Bible as a barometer if this dream is for
us or not.
a God dream and it will never contradict that. But as we pursue and we stretch
ourselves into something of being more and doing more for Him, we encounter
God's love and heart and that's absolutely amazing.
So dreaming big with God. Rick Warren wrote a book called Created to Dream and
in it he has a couple great quotes. This first one says, faith is choosing and
believing God's dream for your life. Nothing starts happening in your life
until you start dreaming. And God gave you the ability to dream, to create, and
to imagine. And I love this picture of this little girl, you know, she's flying,
she's soaring in like dreamland and that's honestly how God wants us to be.
He wants us to come to Him with this childlike imagination and to wonder with
Him on, you know, what the possibilities are to imagine a life where, you know,
we're not afraid, where we're stepping boldly, where we're being, you know, bold
in our prayers and our asks of God. And then to be creative, and again I said
childlike, but to really take time to do fun things, you know, there is something
about spending time with music and with painting or nature where it really
brings that right brain creative out. And that's where dreams come from, from our
spirit, yes, but also from this right brain creative. And having just left a
20-something year career in accounting and as a CFO, for me, I spent a lot of
time in my left brain analytical and my right brain was a little bit tired and
not being used as much. And so I've been intentional recently to be spending more
time doing creative things. And then takes the limits off, you know, fear, doubt, you
know, insecurities, they can put limits on us. And we can limit ourselves, but we're
also notorious for limiting God. Like, I know He can do that, but He might not do
that for me. Or, you know, I don't know if, like, if we could actually achieve this
dream, God. Like, don't limit God. God is the God of the unlimited. Nothing is
impossible with Him, if you believe. And then also, you have to release other
people's expectations. I mean, too often, sometimes the reason why dreams don't
come to pass is because we're living a dream of somebody else, whether it's a
parent, a family member, or we picked up somebody else's dream and it wasn't ours
to carry. And so be careful and ask God for discernment. If just because you have
a dream, it doesn't mean it's from God or for you. And so ask God to clarify that.
And then find your why, but also find your who. You know, knowing why God gave
you this dream is incredibly important because that's where your motivation and
your energy and excitement are going to come from. But also ask God to give you
love for your who. Like, if you're writing a book, if you're starting a dream
business, if you have a desire to do, you know, start a family, like, ask God to
fill your heart ahead of time for love for the people that this dream is going to
serve. And then get excited. Like, I mean, childlike excitement before Christmas,
like Christmas Eve. And not that God is Santa Claus, but our heart, when we are
expectant of God, creates room for him to show up and do miracles. It creates
this vacuum of hope that he wants to fill. And so feel the excitement of this
dream being fulfilled. Ralph Emerson says, dare to live the life you've dreamed for
yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true. So I'm going to share my
dream throughout this four-week course because recently God has had me kind of
change up the course I was taking. You know, over the last four years, I had
started a company called Prosper Always. It started as a podcast back in 2021.
And then I did some courses and challenges with women in 22. I started
coaching them after getting CliftonStrengths certified. And I was doing
this while being a CFO at the company that I used to work for. And then God
started planning even bigger dreams of actually going and starting my own
coaching and consulting company. And, you know, over the last year, I've been
doing that and working on that. And then recently God's told me that he wants me
to lay that down and actually start Dream Big Adventure and do it in a way
that's more light and easy and fun and help women to pursue their dreams. And I
have this big, hairy, audacious goal, like my BHAG, is to help a million women
achieve their dreams, to birth dreams. I just love it. Ever since I've been
little, I've been a big dreamer. And it's part of my DNA. And it's also part
of my CliftonStrengthsFinder. I'm, you know, futuristic, and I love big ideas,
and I'm strategic. So it's so easy for me to rally around somebody's idea. So
in this exercise, you know, you start with your dream. So it's asking God what
your dream is, there's exercises we'll go over later, but they're going to help
you identify that. So for me,
My dream that God has given me is to create a company and a community that empowers women to achieve their dreams and to prosper with God.
Now, you start at the top left. Like, what does that look like?
Well, there's a lot of, like, detail behind this, but ultimately, there's kind of three pillars for me.
Encouraging community, equipping through content, and then empowering with events and trips and retreats.
And so, I'm just excited to be able to support women in these areas.
Now, where? Like, where is your dream going to serve your who?
For me, it's online and in person.
And then, bottom left, like, who is this dream for?
Well, for me, it's for kingdom women who have big dreams.
Obviously, but I have two kids.
My son is 11 and my daughter is 14.
And God has recently showed me that He wants me to take all of this content and all of my ideas and create a kids track so that I can take my kids through the things that I'm helping women do.
But also, the women that I'm going to be, you know, partnering with and you.
Like, to be able to have your kids someday and other kids get to be empowered to have God dreams and to be on adventure with Him.
And then, why?
Like, again, going back to that anchor point.
Like, why is this dream important?
Well, for me, personally, and also for the women that I am serving, I want them to walk in freedom and their true divine identity while increasing their kingdom impact and income for their family.
So, what is your dream?
Like, in these exercises this week, take time, hear God, and then map out your dream.
Okay, one of the other ways to bring about a bright future that we talked about in Jeremiah 29-11 is to visualize the future you and the future that God has for you.
Rick Warren, again, says,
So, how do you visualize your bright future?
Well, there's power in vision.
You know, when we actually look at things, like thoughts become things.
You know, there is power when we look.
You know, what you focus on, you empower.
And I don't know if you've ever done this.
You buy a new car, and all of a sudden, everybody's driving the new car.
Or you decide that you really want this particular food, and then every ad on TV is that food.
Or, you know, you lose something, and you finally find it, and then you're hyper-focused, you know, on not losing that thing in the future.
And so, it's important for you to get a vision of what this dream future looks like.
And then, you have to believe it.
You have to believe that you're capable with God's power and that you will achieve it.
You know, you might not be able to do it in your own strength, and that's okay, because it actually positions you for God to empower you.
Like, you are in good hands with the whole rest of the Bible outside of Jesus, who are put in positions that they weren't prepared for, or, you know, capable, or, you know, have the skills to do.
And because of God, they were the right person in the right place with the purpose, and therefore, they were able to achieve those things through God's power.
And so are you.
Okay, so stay focused and prioritize.
You know, the enemy wants to distract us and have us be—the second you start pursuing your dream, it's going to be some distraction over on the right and some distraction over on the left.
And he does that to just steal focus, but it could also be your own natural skills or strengths that kind of come against you.
For me, I'm a big dreamer, so I start tackling a dream, and all of a sudden, I have 10 new dreams that pop up.
And I have to really ask God, like, is this you? Is this me? And is this for now?
And there's another dream that God has given me that I'm so excited about, but he has been very clear that I can't even start on that other dream until this one is at a point where it's, you know, achieved and launched and, you know, in a more finished state.
And so I have tabled that other dream.
Now, I skipped the words matter and speak life, so we're going to go back to this one.
Your words, our words, have power.
They can speak life or death.
And so as you're visualizing your future and your dream, be speaking life over it.
You know, I love car time.
I love driving in the car, and I probably scare the people around me because I use that time to pray, to decree, to speak life over my family and my dreams.
So I'm like, God, thank you.
Thank you for this book that I'm publishing.
Thank you for the people that are buying it.
Thank you for the women that are being empowered.
And I just start, you know, being loud, driving, and people give me weird looks, but that's okay, right?
Because I'm creating with my words while I'm driving.
I can multitask.
And so can you.
So be careful with your words and your family and your health and your life and all of that.
You know, write down some decrees and affirmations, like I am statements, you know, yes, do that
about God.
So claim some Bible verses and some things that just give you faith and hope in life,
but also write them out yourself.
Like I am a beloved daughter.
You know, I am worthy.
I am more than enough.
Like I am created in his image to do good works.
Like I'm a finisher and a starter, you know, whatever those affirmations are.
And you can find them a lot of times when the enemy says lies against you.
Those are the affirmations you need to flip and write and start decreeing over yourself.
So again, it's how to visualize your bright future.
Well, one of the exercises I love, which you're going to get in the workbook is imagining
your future day, whether it's a year from now, whether it's three, five, 10, however
many years from now, ask God, but picture yourself in that day, the smells, the time
of year, the colors, the people, and just imagine it.
And what's really interesting is that's helped me to dial in on my God dream.
You see, I have the same dream that I wanted to start a company and community that empowered
women to achieve their dreams and prosper.
That dream hasn't changed.
The purpose hasn't changed, but how it looks has drastically changed from a few years ago
when I got this dream to now a few years ago, I thought I was going to create this huge
kind of C-corp company, because again, I just worked for a really 700 person organization
that was national.
And so at that point in time of my life, I was like, oh, I want to, you know, I want
to be the CEO and have a ton of staff and, you know, be making all these things and products
and, you know, have a big building that everybody comes to.
And now having left that job almost a year ago and being in mom mode, I'm like, I want
to do something that's going to include my kids.
And I want time and freedom and to be able to travel and take them with me.
And, you know, I want to be able to run a company, you know, remotely.
And so I think the reason why there can be delays from the fruition or kind of clarity
around our dreams is that God needs us to be at the right place to fully hear and receive.
And he needs us to come into alignment as a being before we start doing.
And then visualize the best that can happen.
I have a sign on my wall and look into the right and it says, what's the best that can
happen?
See, as much as I love to believe big and dream with God and just believe in the possibilities
and create my future, man, the enemy likes to give me discouragement and tell me and
have me doubt and start speaking lies of like inadequacy.
And so I constantly have to like, instead of going down a what if I fail scenario, I
have to right away be like, what if I succeed?
What if this works?
What's the best that can happen?
So you need to do that too.
And then define achieving your dream.
We'll talk about this a little bit more in week three.
But what does finished look like?
What does it look like to achieve your dream?
You know, start with the end in mind like, okay, God, I got this dream, but actually
what does it look like?
And then determine the timing.
I said that earlier, like I have lots of dreams, but what are dreams for now today to pursue?
And what are dreams for a year from now, 10 years from now, and I think we waste a
lot of time and effort and put stress on ourselves to go like ambitiously after dreams that God's
like, I'm planting seeds and I'm watering them, but I'm not ready for you to grow them
or they need time to grow.
And then create a dream vision board.
You know, you saw the picture on this slide where she's putting pictures up.
I have one in my prayer closet, I have a big closet in my bedroom and part of that room
is actually my prayer room and I have a big cork board in there and I just put pictures
and words and Bible verses and decrees and use that, war with that, pray with that.
Like that is a powerful thing to look at every day.
It can be a piece of paper, it can be a desktop picture, like create a vision board for yourself,
for your family, for, you know, your dream future.
And then also for like health and finances, like you can kind of, you know, find books
on Amazon or other places and cut pictures out and use it to just kind of go after all
the things that God is promising you.
So I am a huge book nerd.
I love books, like absolutely love reading.
And so in every week I'm going to give you a book list.
So The Path by Lori Beth Jones is a great book.
It's an old book, but it's a great book about how to understand your purpose.
And you know, that's kind of where I came up with like, I want to encourage, equip and
empower, right?
Like she helps you kind of identify your personal mission statement.
And when you know your personal mission statement, it helps you to align with your dreams and
with God's purpose for your life.
But it also helps you to find fulfillment in being, you know, in, in relationships and
in work and in dreaming and in who you are.
Like you can kind of use that personal mission statement when you know it in all areas of
your life.
And then I talked about.
Created to Dream, the Rick Warren book, highly recommend it.
Dream Wild by Jennifer LeClaire is another amazing book where she really talks about, like,
her and the Holy Spirit going after a big God dream, and I think it's, like, a 30-day little
book with short chapters and practical steps of how to dream with God. And then I Dream Big by
Havilah Cunnington. It's a Bible study type book, so it's kind of a couple weeks of a Bible study,
and it's simple, you know, it's not a big book. It's more, you know, kind of short little,
you know, comments and exercises, but that's another fun book. And then Holy Play by Kirk
Byron. This is a book about, like, bringing back the childlike wonder and play with God and just
being fun and exuberant and that, like, church and life shouldn't just be dull and boring,
but should actually be just fun. And so I highly recommend that book, too.
Okay, so our exercises for this week. So in the workbook, you have these three exercises. The
first one is Dreaming Big with God. So read those exercises. Take time this week to actually go
through them. Then the second exercise is that you can use the Dreaming Big with God to start to map
out your dream map. Don't feel pressure if you don't have all of these answers. You can put,
you know, just TBD, like, to be determined, or you can put what you actually do know.
And the interesting thing is, like, God is faithful to kind of refine. And I would say that,
you know, over the years, I've had the very consistency in my dream, but kind of the look
and feel has nuanced and kind of changed and morphed. And I, like, had this, there was someone
that was talking about dreams are like grapes. And, you know, you might have a couple iterations
of your dream, but that's, like, totally normal. And it's actually part of the process. Because to
make wine from grapes, it's actually the fourth or fifth iteration of these grapes where they
finally are sweet and actually able to be made into wine. And the whole purpose of, like,
creating these grapes for wine is that you have to have a harvest and then, like, let it die and do
it again. And there has been times in my life where I've had to lay down a dream and, like, go back
into work a lot of hours and I had to stop my podcast or I couldn't do coaching anymore.
And it felt like this failure on my part of not being faithful. And recently, God has healed that
in my heart and just kind of removed those lies from the enemy and said, like, no, all of that
is accumulative. Like, it all mattered. It all prepared you. It all started to help you get,
you know, to where you are now. And it's refined this dream. And so I want to encourage you today
that if you have dreamed in the past or started to take action and didn't actually achieve your
dream, that it's still part of who you are. And, like, the mountain that you are climbing,
you don't go back to the beginning every time you relaunch or restart on that book. It's like
you start at that landmark, that milestone. Like, you're there. You've plowed that territory. You've
taken that stair, that ledge. Like, you're starting there with God. And so I want to encourage you
that to dream big, to take limits off, to, like, not fear failure because you're not the same as
who you were in the past. And God is always faithful and can do things even in our weaknesses.
And the last one is some practical steps. Again, visualizing your bright future, like your future
day. And so that's a fun exercise, you know, to do for yourself. You can do these with your family
and just helping you to dream big. So, all right, my friends, I am going to pray for you before we
end. This is the conclusion of week one. And I cannot wait for you to go through these exercises
and see you again for week two. So, God, just thank you. Thank you that you created us to dream.
Thank you that you made us in your image. Thank you for my friend right now who is desiring to
clarify their dream and to pursue their dreams with you. God, I pray for encouragement. I pray
for just downloads from heaven. God, I pray that they would be filled with your spirit so that they
would just be illuminated in the right path to take. And God, that they would have this hope in
their bright future in you. God, that their purpose would align with the dreams of heaven. And God,
that you would meet them as they seek you this week. Lord, I pray for clarity of their purpose
and the who's that you have this dream for. God, that they would take the limits off, that they
would break up with excuses, that they would be willing to just step outside their comfort zone
and follow you into new uncharted waters. And God, that they would be blessed this week in
the name of Jesus. Okay, my friends, have a great week. See you next time.