My Heart on Paper

As of the year 2008, the world’s population has reached over six billion. This figure equals six billion intricately woven lives, conceived in the mind of God, chosen before time, and born for His specific purposes. Not one life was an accident and not one was made without reason. Not one, therefore, should leave this earth without fulfilling his or her God- given destiny.

I am one of these six billion. I am a New Yorker who is well- acquainted with outstanding pressures, impressive achievements, and prestigious resumes. In my world, success is defined by six- figure salaries, sports cars and designer jeans and yet, the truth uncovers a significantly different reality. Spiritual eyes reveal veiled lives of hopelessness, shrouded hearts abandoned and broken, lifeless remnants of dreams, and a forgotten meaning of true happiness.

As I am asked the question, how do I want to change this world? I struggle to craft words that would capture the core of a dream often pondered behind closed doors. I have now realized, however, that it is time to speak. God is beckoning His children to shake off the dust, stand tall and dignified, and address the injustices that threaten to pollute His world. It is my desire that through these words, the heartbeat of heaven will resound…

“I see a city once lost and broken becoming intimately reacquainted with their Savior and Maker. I see defeat being replaced with awestruck wonder. I see a sweet fragrance of hope and life released as dreams pour back into the hearts of God’s people. I see a generation rising from the ashes and running in the fullness of their God- given potential.”

I see homes being built globally for the bruised and battered, worldwide refuges of freedom. These networks of homes, or dream centers, will be found in all major cities, an organization founded upon belief and hope. Faith’s stain will be on each doorpost and love will replace old insecurities and haunting pasts. Victory shouts will be heard throughout the nations of a people who have learned how to laugh, how to stand and how to finally dream again!

How do I plan to achieve my goal? I have already started, I have sought God first. In 2006, a divine encounter arrested my heart, halted my selfish ambitions and through obedience, sent me to Sydney, Australia. It was there that I learned the importance of a solitary life. Zoe taught me. Nothing compares to the journey of unveiling a beautiful, faithful God to a woman who only knows life’s cruelty. Week after week, I witnessed Zoe’s eyes opening wider with amazement, her heart awakening to His mysterious love and divine healing cleansing her body. God sought her and in the process engraved the divine assignment (shared above) upon the deepest tablets of my heart.

Imagine if there were a home where people like Zoe could entrust their infant dreams into the hands of a people who believed in her. Imagine a network of ordinary individuals – professionals, stay at home moms, creative minds, scholars, grandfathers etc., decided to trade in their “nine to five” lives to practically outwork the dreams lying dormant in the corners of their hearts. Imagine if linked hands stretched across nations of those who have discovered the true happiness of a fulfilled dream. Imagine if there were a world of passion, previously bound by fear or comfort, realizing it has something to offer. Imagine the lost and forgotten swept up in a movement of dreams unlocked, belief restored, and purpose rediscovered.

I have realized the mandate, I am responding to the call. There is a generation waiting anxiously on the other side of my obedience. I pray, that you, the perusing eye, would only discover the heart of an ever- faithful God – A Father looking, longing, and spurring His children to bring love and justice to the world He loves so dearly.