by Ann Ferguson

I remember the moment I realized I had stopped dreaming. My fiancé was fixing the keyboard tray on my desk—it kept falling off the tracks. We were about four months away from starting our new life together, and he was eager to help me out of the situation I was living in at the time.

He was lying on his back under the desk, twisting a screwdriver, when he asked,
“Are you ready to start dreaming with me?”

The question caught me off guard.
I didn’t dream. I made the best of what life gave me, and I was good at finding contentment with whatever that was. But suddenly, I felt panic rising in my chest. I hadn’t realized until that moment how deeply uncomfortable the idea of dreaming had become for me.

“I don’t dream,” I told him. “It scares me.”

He slid out from under the desk, smiled, and said,
“Well, we’re going to have to change that.”

Then he went right back to work, still under the desk, and started painting a picture of the future he saw for us.
“I can see me in the yard, putzing around while you’re in the garden,” he said.
He talked about the kind of lawnmower he wanted, and how he’d probably mow the grass at night after work or on weekends. As he shared his vision, I could suddenly see it. And more than that—I wanted it.

Years later, I came across this quote that has become one of my favorites. It perfectly captures the relationship between cause and effect—what is mine to do, and what is God’s:

“God expects you to have enough faith and determination, and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you to not simply face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic) He expects you to embrace and shape the future – to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities.

God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can’t if you don’t pray, He can’t if you don’t dream. In short, He can’t if you don’t believe.”

—Jeffrey R. Holland, “Terror, Triumph, and a Wedding Feast,” BYU Devotional, September 12, 2004

I’ve learned that when I stop dreaming, my future begins to feel stagnant and stoic—like I'm bracing for life instead of stepping into it. But dreaming has now become one of my favorite pastimes. When I imagine what I want and offer those desires to God, He returns them sanctified and consecrated for my good.

And I believe—truly believe—that He is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer my prayers and fulfill my dreams.