Livin’ the Dream

My husband has lately become fond of answering, “How was work today?” or “How are you doing?” by saying, “Livin’ the dream.” A lot of days (because some really, really crazy stuff has been going on with some of the guys he works with), he’s being sarcastic. It made us laugh, though, when his aunt (who has never heard him say that) sent me a Mother’s Day card with a picture of a woman in curlers, surrounded by five or six kids and soaking her feet in a kiddie pool. The inside of the card said, “Living the dream…” Too funny.

I dealt with an unexpected attack from the enemy this week. I struggled with trusting God with this talent He gave me. I struggled with putting words on the paged because I feared mediocrity. I struggled with not earning any money last year at all. I struggled with every single thing about my writing journey. To be honest, I wanted to delete everything I’ve ever written and walk away. The only reason I didn’t is because I knew, deep in my gut, that God wouldn’t want that. He put me here. He set this up. He wants this from me. And if the devil is kicking me that hard, then I must be doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. If I wasn’t on the right path, the devil wouldn’t bother to try to derail me. In fact, he’d encourage me to keep right on steppin’ in the wrong direction.

A dear, wonderful, God-sent writer friend wrote me a note last night. She said, and I quote, “You’re living your dream.” Know what? Until she said that, I’d forgotten. I’d forgotten the joy of making a character come to life in a world woven of words. I’d forgotten the feeling of filling a blank page with a new world. I forgot the power of creativity, of hearing my fingers dance on the keys, of watching the letters and the words appear as if by magic on the screen. I forgot it all. I lost the childlike wonder of God’s gift.

So thanks to that wonderful friend, who unknowingly tossed my husband’s words up for me to catch. I needed that reminder. Yep. I truly am livin’ the dream.

-JB