Dreaming while Awake

It is a gorgeous day outside and I just finished the book, “David: A Man of Passion and Destiny” by Charles Swindoll. Very powerful book that puts King David’s life into perspective so that we can relate. I’m now onto “Wide Awake” by Erwin McManus, which is about living out your dreams.
One part that compared Joseph’s life, (The Dreamer), and our dreams really stuck out to me. It said, “The process in Joseph’s life took not days or months or even years, but decades. Sometimes the life God dreams for us take a lifetime to come to pass. Great lives that are born out of great dreams often come through great sacrifice and great suffering. Our dreams, the ones God places inside of us, are a foretaste of our destiny. But there is a danger of wanting that dream so badly that you’re willing to sacrifice your character. God will never sacrifice who you are for what you can accomplish. We are in danger when “getting there” becomes the most important thing to us. Even when you have the right dream, you can make the wrong choices. The way you begin to live out your God-given dreams is to become the person God desires you to be. Joseph went on a long journey and he went through a lot of pain, and his life was a nightmare, but his dream was a foretaste of his destiny. Maybe the problem wasn’t about how long it took for the dream to come to pass, but how long it took to make the dreamer. Your dreams are the product of your longings, a portrait of your potential, and a promise of your future.” (p.22 Wide Awake)
I thought that passage summed up life’s dreams pretty well and that our dreams don’t have to be a “wild fancy or hope,” but can actually be lived out under God’s good purpose. To those around Joseph, mostly his family, I’m sure he was deemed a habitually impractical person; a dreamer. Yet he believed his dreams and trusted God. I doubt Joseph knew that his hardships had purpose, but he continued to endure living out his dreams. Even during affliction, God is in complete control. If the mind can dream it, wide awake, then the body can achieve it under God’s good and perfect plan.
OK enough about Joseph, I’m back to reality, and as I look around at the countless inmates sleeping and probably dreaming at 2:20 in the afternoon, I am thankful that I’m wide awake and dreaming: My circumstances haven’t changed and my environment hasn’t changed, but I believe I have changed.
~~~CREATING A FUTURE FROM MY DREAMS~~~