Dreamscaping and waiting...

"Until the time came to fulfill his dreams,
    the Lord tested Joseph’s character."
--Psalms 105:19

Two thoughts come to mind here...

1. Whose dream was it?  Was it Joseph's dream or God's dream given to Joseph?  Or both?

2.  Dreams take awhile. 

Continuing my series on Senior Dreamscaping, some may question, "If it was God's dream, why did it take so long?" 

When God gives a dream, it may involve work, but it's not you doing the work.  Since I'm not driving, it's easy to say, "Are we there yet?" 

God's work is more like pregnancy than a do-it-yourself project.  The dream may be implanted by the Father but it's yours to carry.  It's slow.  It stretches you.  It moves from uncomfortable to downright painful.  You are not likely to ever be the same.  You are tested by it and the test imprints itself on you. 

A dear friend of mine just had her third child.  We met every week throughout the time and I watched as she got big (early) and then bigger and bigger.  Her son had a nasty habit of stubbornly pushing on her ribs.  Before the baby came, she cleaned and prepared. That's really all she could do. Once it came, there was even more to do, but she still has no more control over her child's growth than when she carried it. The growth is God's to do.  The care is ours. 

She had wanted a natural childbirth, but ended up with a C-section--and the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck twice.  A natural birth would have killed him.  Things didn't work out the way she wanted--she knew it might not--but after all that waiting she had a wonderful son and it was worth every minute, every pain, every irritating shove.