Booram - Starting something new: spiritual direction for your God-given dream

InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400,
Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
ivpress.com

2015 by Beth A. Booram

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, a movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, visit intervarsity.org .

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

While any stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information may have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

The poem on p. 11 is from Selection for January 5 by Joyce Rupp, Fragments of Your Ancient Name: 365 Glimpses of the Divine for Daily Meditation (Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books, 2011).

The epigraph on p. 32 is the Gentle God Prayer by Corine Murray of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque, IA (2002). Used by permission.

The epigraph on p. 142 is The Risk of Birth by Madeleine LEngle (1974). Copyright 1978 by Crosswicks, Ltd. Used by permission.

The prayer on p. 171 is by John Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter (San Antonio, TX: New Beginnings, 2012), p. 58. Used by permission.

Cover design: Cindy Kiple

Images: mitza/iStockphoto

ISBN 978-0-8308-9719-3 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-3597-3 (print)

To David

Living this dream with you is what makes it a dream for me.

To Dave and Jody Nixon

Your way of living was my inspiration; your friendship and support a treasured gift.

And to all

who have a dream inside them

and wonder if it is from God and for them to tend.

Oh, Dreamer who quietly enters my life
With your basketful of transforming symbols,
You come sailing the inaudible night skies
Within the silent corridors of my sleep
Bringing the needed truths I barely perceive
In the bold, glaring light of my active days.
Hearken to me with your messengers.
Gift me, please, with dreams of revelation
So the uncertain path I trod to my true self
Becomes every clearer and ready to walk.

Joyce Rupp, Fragments of Your Ancient Name

Selection for January 5

Hope postponed grieves the heart;
but when a dream comes true, life is full and sweet.

Proverbs 13:12 (The Voice)

D OES EVERYONE HAVE A DREAM? Some secret ambition or desire that they hold close to their vest and privately cherish? Or are only certain people given a dream by God: some vision of great weight and proportion that theyre to give their lives to? I have a growing sense that many people live with creative, Spirit-inspired ideas stirring inside them, but have little to no clue (and sometimes courage) how to pay attention to and nurture those dreams.

How do I know this? I suppose first and foremost because I am one who, for the last number of years, has been trying to understand a gnawing urge within me to create something for which I had no name. All I could say with words and capture in writing was that I felt as though God was awakening a seed of something he had planted in me, but I didnt know what kind of seed it was. A new church? A new ministry? A new nonprofit of some kind?

The other source of my growing conviction comes through my practice as a spiritual director. My role is to listen deeply for the activity of God within a person as she or he shares about her or his life and then help that person attend and respond to Gods activity. So, as a spiritual director, when I listen to my directees, its not uncommon to hear bubbling up within them a spark of an idea, an innovative unction from the Spirit, for which they often feel some trepidation, as well as great interest and attraction.

The challenge comes when they try to voice their desire, often with a mixture of animation and apprehension, and begin to ask questions like, How do I know for sure that this dream is from God and for me? And what in the world do I do with it?

Not only do I draw from my own recent experience of realizing a dream and my work in spiritual direction, I have also interviewed a number of people in my own geography and around the country who have courageously embraced, often with great sacrifice, a God-prompted idea that seemed to have their names on it. Prior to each chapter, I will share one of these stories of dreams come to life. My hope and prayer is that as you read them, you will develop the courage to believe in your God-given dream and begin cultivating it with great care.

This book is intended to be a companion guide offering spiritual direction for those who are wondering if they have a God-given dream forming inside them but dont know what to do with it. Its for people who are contemplating an embryonic ideastarting something newbut arent sure where to begin. Its written to provide assurance and coaching for those in the birthing process, a process that feels both creative and confusing at times. And finally, its written to offer practical help and support for those who are actively tending a God-given dream and need to know how to bring it to life and sustain it.

Each chapter describes a unique stage in the gestation of a God-given dreamfrom birthing it to sustaining it. Then at the end of each chapter you will find a reflection exercise with questions similar to what a spiritual director might ask, questions that will help you process where you are in the gestation of your God-given dream and how to cooperate with God in that stage. I encourage you to use a journal, perhaps a unique journal, different from the one you use for other purposes, and write and process your reflections and responses.

In addition, I hope this book is a unique and helpful resource for other spiritual directors and for those who would like to use it when they meet with one. If you dont currently have a spiritual director and are interested and curious about how to find one, a guide for how to look for a director at the end of the introduction may be of help. Following that is a guide to assist spiritual directors in how to utilize this book with directees who are tending a God-given dream. I encourage you to read both guides in order to understand how spiritual direction and this book might work together.

When I use the term dream, Im using it broadly. The types of dreams Im speaking of are quite varied, as represented by the individuals whose stories I will tell. Some dreams involved a change of lifestyle; some a new vocation; others began a new business, organization or nonprofit; and some dreams involved a number of these versions. The following are a few examples of some of their dreams. One of them might remind you of the seed thats growing within you.

• a dream to live intentionally in community with others in an impoverished area of the city, developing a life of simplicity and sustainability, living with less consumption and less waste