My first big dream to come true was a trip abroad.
It was a month-long missions trip to a third world country. And I had just turned 14.
I wasn’t even in high school yet, but there I was, packed and ready for the “trip of a lifetime”. It changed my life forever. And it was just the first of many big dreams to come true.

The next big dream involved moving away from home. Not just away from my small hometown, but away from my country to another world (Texas!) to complete my internship. I had no friends and not much to comfort me. Funny thing, that’s where I met my husband (an Oregonian). What would have happened if I hadn’t dreamed big and taken a giant leap?
 
I remember standing with my husband in Ford Field (where the Superbowl had been played only months before) surrounded by 50,000 people. We stood there watching as months of hard work unfolded before our eyes. It was one of our “lifelong” dreams, and we had just turned 25. I leaned in close to him that day and said, “it’s time to come up with some bigger dreams”.

In order to make the big dream happen, you have to be willing to take a giant leap.

As a couple, we have taken some big leaps. Physical moves across the country (multiple times). We were youth pastors for a while, and brought home a newborn at the same time. We have renovated homes, gone back to school and launched businesses.

Each time I find myself getting ready to make a giant leap, I notice that I am also going through the following two emotions:
 
Excitement.  Because I’m an adventurer who lives for new experiences.
 
Anxiety.  Because I’m a planner and recovering control freak.  And I usually don’t have anywhere close to enough of the answers before we usually take a giant leap.
 
I think there’s a lot of people who get caught in these feelings. The excitement is so overwhelming and so contagious that they are ready to go and take on the world except that… they get stuck “planning” the dream.
And that is a sad thing: un-lived dreams.

Because we are “responsible” people with duties and tasks to complete, with bosses, employees, children and commitments. We reason away the dream because it doesn’t fit into our hectic, but meaningful life. We opt for “later”, except that it never comes.
 
In addition to the above mentioned emotions, there is always a third feeling that overwhelms me on the eve of a giant shift in our lives. Excitement is important. Anxiety is inevitable. But the third one is the most powerful. It’s peace.
 
It blankets me.

I can’t explain it. I can’t force it. I can’t will it to happen. It just does. It’s rarely immediate, but I have come to count on it once I have surrendered to God’s voice, to His plan, to His timing.

We have taken many big and bold jumps in our short lifetime.  Some people have called us crazy. At times we’ve called ourselves crazy! Sometimes we’ve made choices that others have advised us not to. There are many who will never understand the why behind what we do. And that’s ok.
 
Because at least I was willing to take the giant leap. 

Or, as the character Sam (from the Transformers trilogy) said, “50 years from now, when you’re looking back on your life, don’t you want to say you had the guts to get in the car?”
 
Yes! I do!
 
Tell us, what big dreams are you leaping into this year?