Encourage Me: A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

The above post title is part of a song from the 1950 Walt Disney animated classic, Cinderella. Though possibility visualization is of vital importance in the beginning of the realization process, if one doesn’t move beyond passive desires of hoping into the accomplishing of an active goal-oriented stage, nothing is accomplished.

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) confirms the important first step in this process as it confidently proclaims, “Where there is no vision the people perish…”

To clarify what I am saying, let me use my humble wife, Bobbi, as an example. She does not particularly enjoy being the focus of one of my posts. Her servant-like personality wants to help (and encourage) wherever the need exists.

Even as a small child, Bobbi Lynn (McFarlen) Kinker has struggled with her weight. In our forties, I knew that her weight gain had compromised the type of life she wished to live. When all the many diets she tried were unsuccessful, (in my heart) I knew the only thing that would assist her in being a success in her goal of being healthier was bariatric surgery.

I took her fourteen years, to mentally come to the place where she knew this was the right thing to do (no matter the results others had experienced).

One of the moments that solidified the need for this surgery came from her diabetes doctor. (Her diabetes is gone today as a result of the bariatric surgery in the summer of 2014.)

She was warned that if there was not an alteration to her morbid obesity (medical diagnosis) that her life is shortened dramatically.

Bobbi knew there were many more moments in her daughter’s life that Allena would need a mother’s guidance (and love). She had to be there for her.

I said all of that to make this point. If my wife had not pushed past her fears and doubts to achieve this goal, there is a very real possibility I could have been a widower, or she may have eventually become an invalid. Realize that when you reach your goals, it affects those around you.

Today, all of Bobbi’s eating issues have not magically disappeared. She still watches what she eats, and knows her limits. Her weight fluctuates less than it used to. Bobbi’s quality of life after bariatric surgery is greatly improved health-wise; but there are still a variety of health issues that my wife constantly grapples with.

Whether your desired ventures in life are of the creative, spiritual, travel, health, or financial kind (or something else) absolutely nothing will happen with a mental picture of your hope until you take actions to make it a reality.

You have no idea whether the outcome will be of a negative (or positive) kind. Press beyond what is comfortable for you to find out the true character that was always there. I hope to be there when you finally realize your ability (and your ultimate value to God and those that love you). Memorize Philippians 4:13, and believe it’s unwavering truth.