52 of Us Gathered to Dream!

“Dream Big!” I told them. “That’s the point—it’s a dream that doesn’t depend solely on you, so say it out loud and call it to life.”

We sat huddled on the floor, cutting images from magazines to represent our big dreams.

Seeing them in color was another way to give them life. We filled our vision boards with dreams

in six areas: spiritual, relational, academic, physical/health, 2025, and long-term.

I entered in with them, crafting my own vision board. I commiserated with them on how hard it

was to write the BIG dream down.

5,000 books sold—that would be great, but the dream is 10,000!

Multiplication of New Hope—One new home felt safe, but the dream is five hubs of triage and

world-class care.

Why is dreaming so hard? No one was going to hold me accountable for my vision board. I

promised myself not to look at it at the end of the year and allow myself to feel defeated or like a

failure. And I knew if I didn’t dare to say it out loud and turn them into prayers, I may never see

them realized.

So we made our brave vision boards and prayed over every single dream. I loved getting to

peek into the places of each girl’s heart as they shared their wild dreams, giving them wings of

hope. Now as each one takes life, they not only belong to the person who first dared to plant it,

but they belong to those of us who also carried it and watered it with our prayers. We celebrate

and rejoice together!

Some of the items on our vision board did depend on our faithfulness: eating better, exercising,

creating new habits of prayer and reading, for example. But many dreams were bigger than

ourselves, and we waited with great expectation to see how God would bring them to fruition.

Soon after our vision board night in January, we were invited to participate in a retreat with three

other partner organizations, and trust me, I couldn’t make this up—During this retreat, our girls

would be charged with making a vision board and presenting it to a panel of donors who would

be investing in their dreams, making a way for them to be realized!

52 of us gathered to go through the process of dreaming, writing them down, and speaking

them out loud before the crowd, trusting that God would make a way! Each girl was given up to

$2,000 toward her dream, and we cheered and celebrated for each one.

Dreaming is part of freedom, and it was a thrill to watch each girl walk into freedom, full of hope!

“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” Sisterhood grew as we laughed, shared, ate, danced, and dreamed together.

We are launching beautiful, powerful, strong women who know who they are—The world needs

each and every one, and I am FULL OF HOPE as they step into their bright futures.