You know when you flip the light switch in the bathroom first thing in the morning and your eyes sting because the light is so bright? That’s the way it was with my dreams.

They were always there – the dreams –building and stretching as God molded and shaved away pieces, fashioning who I was to be. But it wasn’t until the light, the bright light, that I could see and recognize them for what they were.

Paul had a bathroom light switch experience, too. Well, he was really Saul then. His blinding moment of light changed his life forever. I believe it’s that way with all of us. There is one defining moment, whether it’s one thing or the culmination and pinnacle of many, where we know what God’s created us to do. The knowledge is so dazzling, your first reaction is to close your eyes. But you can’t. You were blind, but now…

From that moment on, everything in the past seems so obvious. Of course, He was preparing you for this. To look back and identify the markers are enough to make your mouth drop.

At first, I couldn’t put a finger on my bright light moment. It could have been after reading a particular book. After finishing Bruce Wilkinson’s The Dream Giver, I thought my dream was to be published.

The desire in me so strong, I started writing devotions just for me and saved them in a safe place where no one could see. But you can’t be published if no one reads it. So I started a blog and signed up for a writer’s conference. Those steps of faith launched my writing journey.

Soon, I was published in a magazine. Then another. And another. Then came a book. It was as if I stumbled onto something, but my journey to write wasn’t by chance, for the pathway that led me there was easily recognizable in my rearview mirror. And then in the middle of writing a book proposal, somewhere in between writing a competitive market analysis and volunteering in a prison for research, my real light switch experience happened. I realized my dream wasn’t really to write, per se. My dream was to change lives, and many times that happened through the written word. God is in the business of changing lives and was asking me to join Him.

And that’s where my dream lies – in that process of change. While writing fuels much of it, sometimes the life adjustments come in different ways. Perhaps it’s changing the attitudes of the little people in my own home and sometimes it’s sending money for clean water and schoolbooks for my World Vision child. There are days when I teach and encourage men serving time for murder and others when I help a grandma wipe the ketchup off the floor at McDonald’s after she’s made a mess. There’s no task too big or too small when it comes to making a difference in someone’s life.

You see, I realized there was no fairy godmother to appear with sparkles and fairy dust when I finally had my name in print. It isn’t my name that’s important – it’s His.

I’m a mom of three that stays up too late every night and drinks too much coffee every morning. I’m not famous, and probably never will be. But that’s okay, because each day I’m choosing to live my dream, working to affect the lives of people around me – one word, one act of mercy, one let-you-in-front-of-me-in-the-grocery-store, one step out of my comfort zone at a time.

How about you? What has God placed in your heart?

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I’m linking up today with my sweet friend Lindsey Talerico-Hedren where she is posting about dreams. Come read her post So Long Old Dreams, Hello New Ones where you’ll also find a treasure chest of dream posts from other incredible bloggers.

Carol